Yugioh GX: Advent of New Hero
by Shirou Fujimura
Summary: Aspiring to become the greatest of the great duelists, the next King of Games, Shirou Fujimura has been brought from game shop tournaments to one of the greatest duel institutions in existence to hone his skills. But as darkness descends upon Duel Academy, it's up to Shirou and his new friends to defend both the school and, quite possibly, the entire world.
1. Arc 1 - Turn 1: Entrance Exams!

**This is my first attempt at Yugioh, so please curb your expectations until I blow all of them with my super awesomness...hopefully.**

 **PS: I've decided to make OC Submission possible. Here is the format:**

 **Name:**

 **Age:**

 **Gender:**

 **Appearance:**

 **Personality:**

 **History: (What**

 **Dorm: (Remember, no females in Slifer or Ra. Only Obelisk had a girls' dorm.)**

 **Alternate Affiliation?: (Essentially, do they also belong to another group other than Duel Academy?)**

 **Deck: (No Synchros, Xyz, or Pendulum monsters. If an original deck, nothing OP or impossible)**

 **Quirks: (Abnormal/strange flaws or behaviors)**

 **Likes:**

 **Dislikes:**

 **Alternate Abilities?: (Other than dueling skills, do they have any other abilities?)**

 **This will be posted on my profile page...**

 **So yeah...**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own jack except Shirou!**

* * *

 **Arc 1 - Turn 1: Entrance Exams!**

 _"Have fun with your draw! Thanks to the effects of Kunai with Chain, my Rare Metal Dragon's ATK gets a boost from 2400 to 2900! So on my next turn, your monster is going down along with the rest of your life points!"_

 _The four-legged beast (or rather, its holographic image) on the field let out a violent roar as a chain appeared in a flashing light, wrapping around the monster's body, winding through its jagged, spiny back made up of what appeared to be black metal._

 _Behind it was another face-down card floating above the ground._

 _On the other side of the field was a black-clothed warrior carrying a giant, iron sword, his light-green face obscured by a black hood. Hovering off the ground closely behind the warrior were two, giant projected face-down cards, one on either side of the warrior._

 _Two young men stood at their respective sides of the Dueling Arena, with their duel disks, their eyes locked in a seemingly endless mental conflict. One of them, the duelist standing on the far end, was a long-haired boy dressed with a very messy black student uniform, hair spiked up in a Mohawk like some sort of cliche delinquent, his cocky and disgusting face only emphasizing his lack of desirability. Despite this, other young men and women wearing similar uniforms were cheering him on, praising him for his impressive move. His opponent was not so impressed._

 _He was smiling, but not out of admiration._

 _He wore a cocky smile similar to his opponents._

 _The other duelist was a young man, about 17. He possessed snow-white hair and sky-blue eyes, possessing such sharpness that it would not be an exaggeration to say they could pierce right through you. He was relatively in-shape and, unlike his opponent, wore a blue student uniform rather than a black one, the jacket open to reveal a white T-shirt underneath. An odd "accessory" (if you could call it that) he possessed were the fighting bandages wrapped around his left arm, covering all of the lower half excluding his fingers._

 _Gathering around the local Duel Arena were dozens of peoples, some students, some adults, some game shop owners trying to advertise their businesses, but every single pair of eyes was glued to the duel before them._

 _The grin of the delinquent, Shirazu, widened. "What are ya gonna do now, Shirou?"_

 ** _Shirou: 400 LP_**

 ** _Shirazu: 1500 LP_**

 _It was a close game. Anyone's game. Both duelists would have to fight their very best, being neck to neck while trying not to suffer defeat at the hands of their rival._

 _That's what everyone except Shirou thought._

 _Shirou wordlessly drew a card, adding it to his hand, making two cards he now held._

 _"Hmph!" He let out a small, confident laugh at this. "Imma mop the floor with your ugly face of course!"_

 _"What'd you say!?" Shirazu barked in annoyance, glaring daggers at his opponent. "Maybe after this duel, I'll see about fixin' that big mouth of yours!?"_

 _Shirou scoffed at him. "Wow, so assured of your victory already that you failed to notice three big mistakes you just made!"_

 _Despite the threat, Shirou's confidence took Shirazu by surprise, causing him to step back. If he had any less sense of mind, he probably would have tripped over himself and fallen over._

 _"What are you talkin' about! Your Silent Swordsman LV7 is no match for my Rare Metal Dragon! Just look at the difference in their attack points! Ain't no way yer gonna turn this match around! Next turn, you're toast!"_

 _"True," Shirou admitted, "I would probably have been defeated by your attacks next turn...that is, if there was going to BE a next turn." There was a sharp gasp from the audience as they watched in awe. "As I said, you made three big mistakes! The first mistake was thinking I was betting everything on my Silent Swordsman! Even if he is weaker than your Rare Metal Dragon, I've got something much bigger in the wings! First off, I activate the face-down spell card: Monster Reborn!"_

 _One of Shirou's face-downs flipped face-up, revealing a bluish-green framed card with the image of a glowing pendant-like object with an angelic appearance._

 _"And now I use it to bring back the Masked Dragon you destroyed earlier on!" A white-colored dragon with a crimson-red underside appeared from the ground (3/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1100)._

 _Shirazu snorted. "Pfft! Like that pathetic little dragon of yours can do anything against my Rare Metal Dragon! You're a loser just like that old man of yours!"_

 _"What'd you say?"_

 _It was the first time Shirou's expression showed any signs of true irritation._

 _Shirazu laughed. "I only tell it like it is! No way your monster can defeat mine! You're a loser like that old man of yours!"_

 _"Tch!" Shirou clicked his tongue. NOBODY made fun of his dad. "Originally, this WAS for sport, but now I am personally going to enjoy rubbing your nose in it when I win._ _Anyway, don't worry about that! Coz my Masked Dragon is only here so I can do THIS!" Shirou played one of the last two cards he held in his hand. "I activate Stamping Destruction! This spell card allows me to target one spell/trap card on your field and destroy it!"_

 _"N-No way!" Masked Dragon lunged forward, stomping the face-down card on the field. It flipped up to reveal a reddish-violet card with two powerful attacks, one clearly more powerful than the other, colliding with one another. Then it shattered into fragments and disappeared._

 _"And you get dealt 500 points of damage!"_

 ** _Shirou: 400 LP_**

 ** _Shirazu: 1000 LP_**

 _"And don't worry about Masked Dragon coz neither it nor my Silent Swordsman will be sticking around for long!" Shirou drew the last card he held in his hand, raising it up to the sky, his eyes closed with an expression of concentration on his face. Then his eyes suddenly opened, his smirk becoming a more calm, more focused smile._

 _The completely shaken Shirazu couldn't help but become increasingly nervous at Shirou's confidence._

 _"T-This is a joke! You cocky punk! What makes you act like this is in the bag!?" He started stomping his feet furiously against the ground, irritated and nervous about Shirou's expression._

 _"I'll explain it to you along with the second mistake you made!" There was another wave of surprise as Silent Swordsman and Masked Dragon vanished from the field. _"Alright then..._ _The stage is set! Iiiiiit's showtime!"__

 _Then Shirou placed his final card onto the slot in his Duel Disk._

 _"Come on out, Buster Blader!" A humanoid, armored form rose from the ground, wielding his giant sword, possessing several gems inserted into it, with both hands, every part of his body, even his face hidden by armor, two horn-like protrusions sprouting from his skull (7/ATK: 2600/DEF: 2300)._

 _"Are you kidding me? That's even weaker than your last monster!" The delinquent mocked. "You must be really messed up in the head if THIS is your comeback!"_

 _"Don't underestimate Buster Blader!" Shirou bellowed angrily. "He's the card my Dad gave to me and he's my final trump card in this situation! You see, he has this nifty little ability: Buster Blader gains 500 ATK points for every Dragon-type monster on your field and in your grave. And last I recalled, you possessed at least three Dragons in your grave and one Dragon on your field. So what does the new ATK power of Buster Blader amount to?" Shirou grinned widely, waving at the crowd. "What does that amount to, folks!?"_

 _[4600 ATK points!]_

 _The crowd cheered, excited by the idea of what this meant._

 _"That's right, ladies and gents!" Shirou confirmed. "Buster Blader's new ATK is 4600 points strong! And you know what that means, Shirazu?"_

 _"W-Wha-?"_

 _"It means that your Rare Metal Dragon is toast along with the rest of your Life Points! Your second mistake was not saving your Kunai with Chain for now. You could have switched Buster Blader to defense mode and destroyed him next turn." Buster Blader began radiating a powerful white aura which completely surrounded its body before spreading to its sword (ATK: 4600). "Now Buster Blader, turn that dragon of his into scrap metal! Dragon Buster Blade!"_

 _Buster Blader suddenly leaped from his standing position, swinging his aura-cloaked blade at the giant beast before it. The beast let out a loud roar of discontent as Buster Blader's sword cut through it as if it were made of paper rather than metal._

 _The force of the attack created powerful gusts that blew towards Shirazu's ends, causing him to shield himself from the blast._

 ** _Shirou: 400 LP_**

 ** _Shirazu: 0 LP_**

 _"Game. Set. Match."_

 _With those words from Shirou, the holograms on the field faded away, Shirou collecting his cards, trying to pretend that he wasn't enjoying the well-deserved crushed expression of his opponent. Nobody-NOBODY-makes fun of his Dad without paying in a duel._

 _Shirou stepped away from the dueling arena, feeling oh-so-pleased with himself at the sound of applause._

 _"And that settles it!" A woman, an announcer from the game shop they had been playing at, stated with a sense of finality. "The winner of the Duel4Fun Shop Annual Duel Tournament is Shirou Fujimura!" The woman walked over to Shirou and handed him a plaque with his name placed on it along with a plastic, gold-colored Duel Monster card on it._

 _Shirou gratefully accepted the duel plaque from her hands._

 _It may have been just a piece of wood with plastic, but for Shirou, this marked yet another glorious victory put towards his goal._

 _"What was it...?"_

 _Shirou's feeling of victory was interrupted by the loud groan from Shirazu whom Shirou could still see broken on all fours from his side of the Duel Arena._

 _"My third mistake, what was it?"_

 _Shirou's smirk quickly return._

 _"The stupidest mistake of all: You challenged me to a duel while expecting to win!" He raised his fist into the air, as if raising it against the Heavens themselves._

 _The crowd once again began to applaud and cheer his name._

 _[SHIROU~! SHIROU~! SHIROU~! SHIROU~!]_

 _Shirou raised two peace signs._

 _"That's right! I'm awesome! Shi-rou~! Shi-rou~!"_

 _[Shirou! Shirou! SHIROU!]_

 _'Huh?' Shirou frowned to himself, the last chorus of cheers sounding more harsh and urgent._

 _[SHIROU! SHIROU!]_

 _Now he was POSITIVE he wasn't imagining it. But what was-_

* * *

"Shirou! Wake up you lazy bum!"

Shirou was forced into consciousness by the sudden jerking motion of being rolled out of his bed, hitting the cold, hard, unforgiving ground face-first. For several seconds, he was disoriented and felt instinctively that it was best to lay on the ground, hoping the chaos of the moment to fade away with time.

"This is no time to lay on the ground! Get up already!"

'No thanks.' Was his mental reply. 'I'm content to lay here til you leave.'

There was a sigh and Shirou, albeit briefly, held hope his was a sigh of resignation.

This hope was crushed only a second later.

"I summon Tyrant Dragon!"

Shirou risked a glimpse of the area in front of him, blinking twice as he noticed the familiar, titan-sized, brown, leathery winged beast in front of him. Then he fully processed the words that were spoken only seconds ago.

And then he realized how loud this was gonna be.

The dragon turned its head skyward and released the most powerful, eardrum-breaking roar whose sound could only be matched by the sounds of numerous high-grade explosives being detonated all at the same time. Shirou had to cover his ears to avoid going deaf. The noise lasted for a good minute before the image in front of him faded away, leaving just him and one other occupant in his room.

He raised his head to glare at the woman.

She was just about twenty, having only recently graduated from being a "teen". Like Shirou, her hair, waist-length and straight, was white and she possessed blue eyes. She was dressed in a white dress shirt and sweat pants, an odd choice of clothing. Nobody would be able to tell if she was trying to dress for comfort or only went halfway when it came to dressing formally. This, compared to her other eccentricities, was only a minor thing that added to the fact she was an odd woman.

Shirou immediately leaped to his feet, jabbing an accusing finger in her direction.

"Don't try to blow up my eardrums with Duel Monsters, Makoto!" He lunged forward and snatched both the card and the Duel Disk from her hands. "And also don't do it with MY OWN MONSTERS AND GEAR!" He continued to complain, shooting a sharp look at the woman known as Makoto.

Makoto placed her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at the younger boy. "Well how else do I wake up my lazy little brother?! You're gonna be late at this rate!" Then an arrogant look crossed her face. "Also, try not to talk so pompously towards me until you can actually use that deck of yours to beat me. Kufufufu~"

Shirou hugged his Duel Disk against his chest, turning his back to his sister, continuing his sharp glare.

"Anyway, what are you even doing in here? It's only..." Shirou checked the number-shaped red lights on his alarm clock, taking only a second to note his favorite Blue-Eyes White Dragon figurine standing on top of it. "...5:27. I still have like two hours."

Makoto stared at Shirou, her expression so blank that it frightened him.

"Shirou, it's 7:27."

Realization slowly sank in through Shirou's incredibly thick skull.

"Oh..." Then his brain finally processed that realization. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" He picked up his alarm clock and stared at it, as if it had committed some sort of betrayal. "But how?! I set my alarm clock with a two hours' difference so I could wake up earlier!" It was not fear of being late, but rather, shock and confusion that made Shirou react in this way.

"...Did you hit the down arrow on the clock?"

"Come on, Sis! I'm not that stu-" Shirou paused, trailing off. Then he clenched his fists, a strained expression on his face. He was clearly resisting the urge to say something unpleasant. He had set the alarm clock BEHIND two hours rather than ahead like he had intended. "Whoops..." This was all he had said after finally realizing something else, only letting out a small breath. Then he calmed completely, walking back over to his bed and laying down, pulling the sheets over him, closing his eyes.

"Huh...?" Makoto stared with confused eyes.

"Oh well. There's always next year." Shirou said nonchalantly.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" With another banshee-like shriek, Makoto once again flipped Shirou's bed over, flipping over everything on it onto the ground, including Shirou. Shirou groaned in pain, rubbing his head as Makoto growled angrily down at him. "Mom and I spent a lot of money so you could take get you the chance to get into Duel Academy, and it's not going down the drain just because you were too lazy to get your butt in gear to go take a test!"

"Look, it's not like I need that stupid Duel Academy place anyway." The white-haired boy complained. "Unlike those other guys apparently, I'm good enough without needing to deal with these idiots who need a lecture to tell a spell card from a trap card." Shirou laid back on the ground, crossing his arms behind his head to act as a make-shift pillow. "Just because you went there, it doesn't mean I have to. I'll get better than you all on my own. These small-time tournaments are only a stepping stone as I make my way up the ladder. Before ya know it, I'll have become the next King of Games. I don't need the approval of Duel Academy."

"Shirou, do you know how hard it was for me and mom to get you this far?" Makoto scolded, seeming slightly hurt but mostly angry. "It's not easy to do stuff like this, especially since Dad...well, you know..." Makoto trailed off, her sad expression mirroring Shirou's. "So you can't just decide selfishly that you don't want to go after you managed to pass that written exam!" Then she reached forward, picking up Shirou by his collar and glaring directly into his eyes. "SO GET IT IN GEAR AND DON'T BE LATE! AM I CLEAR?!"

Shirou raised his hands, trying to soothe his sister's rage. "B-But, Makoto, what if I'm late and they don't let me take the final part of the exam?"

"Then don't be late~ Or else~" The oppressive aura around Makoto increased drastically as she smiled sweetly.

"O-Or else w-what?"

Makoto cocked her head to the side in a way that could be considered adorable if not for the fear-inducing presence she held. She pulled one hand away in a fist, slamming it hard enough into the wall behind her to create a huge crater. Then she turned back to Shirou, still smiling.

"Is that clear?"

Shirou swallowed, his face going pale. "Crystal, m-ma'am!"

"Then, GET GOING!" The harsh demon-like woman dropped Shirou on the ground, leaving him to scramble in his rush to get ready.

* * *

It took only moments for Shirou to get dressed in his black student uniform. He wanted to dress casually, but Makoto just INSISTED that he wear something more formal than a T-shirt saying "Got Duel?" and normal jeans. She had said something along the lines of "No need to make the wrong impression before you even got to the school."

'Like she can talk.' Shirou retorted in his mind.

"OI! SHIROOOOU!"

Shirou stiffened, swallowing. 'GAAAAH! SHE CAN HEAR MY THOUGHTS!'

Several feet away from his house, he turned on his heels to face the front door.

There stood Makoto and his mother, an older woman with such a kind and gentle face, her long, snow-white hair tied into a pony tail hanging over her left shoulder. She looked like the model mother and housewife.

"Shirou," She bowed, "please do your best! I know you'll make our family proud!"

"So yeah! Don't come back til you can beat me in a duel!"

Despite his previous reluctance, Shirou couldn't help but grin, waving back.

"Yeah! Count on it!"

Then he took off running.

'I have no interest in this Duel Academy...' Shirou shot a glance over his shoulder, groaning when he still saw his mother smiling brightly even from this distance. '...but still. If Mom gives me such heartwarming last words, then I'd be a huge jerk to flunk out before school even started!'

While running, he could not resist pulling out a certain card:

Buster Blader.

"Don't worry, Dad. I'm gonna make sure nobody can call the Fujimura men losers ever again."

He slipped the card back into his deck, returning his focus to making his way to the Examination Hall.

He stopped at an intersection. "Erm...Let's see...was it a left or a right from here...? Well, I'll just go left for now." Unbeknownst to him, he was heading in the OPPOSITE direction of his desired destination (a fact he would find out in about five minutes time, turning around upon this realization).

Not the best start, but one could deny his determination.

'I'll definitely become the next King of Games!'

* * *

It took ten more minutes of wrong turns and backtracking, but Shirou finally made it to the area where the final part of the Duelist Academy Entrance Exams were taking place. He saw one or two people entering, so he knew he wasn't late just yet. Perhaps a bit too close for comfort, but no big deal. Shirou still counted his lucky stars though. He knew he did not want to face the wrath of Makoto Fujimura on the off-chance he had been too late to take his test.

Slowing to a walking pace, Shirou approached the desk in front of the entrance to the building, his hands in his pockets.

He waited for the person in front of him to finish registering before they ran into the building.

Then it was Shirou's turn to approach the desk.

There was a man wearing shades in a black suit, probably an official sent by the school, standing behind the desk. Shirou couldn't help but note that he had kind of a Phoenix Wright hairstyle. Standing next to him, apparently going over lists of sorts on their clipboards were two young women wearing what Shirou suspected to be Academy blazers with yellow trims.

Shirou looked up at the building, whistling.

It was all-or-nothing from here on out. Sure he was definitely going to get in, but that didn't stop him from being both nervous and determined.

"Name?"

Shirou blinked, snapping out of his thoughts. "Huh...?"

"Name, sir." The black-suited individual stated, gesturing towards the girls with lists. "What is your name?"

"Oh, right." Shirou gave a peace sign. "Shirou. Shirou Fujimura. I'm here to take the exam." To prove his identity, Shirou flashed them an ID, confirming this further.

One of the girls looked at her list, flipping through one, then two pages, skimming the contents of each page.

After a little while, she looked up, nodding. "Yes. He's on the list."

The black-suited man gestured Shirou forward. "Alright. Please proceed to the examination areas. If there are no fields or examiners available, then please wait patiently until the time when one becomes available."

"Roger." With nothing better to do, Shirou shoved his hands into his pockets, proceeding into the building. It was a straight-shot hallway into a larger, more open area.

The first thing that his mind took notice of upon entering the larger room was the sound of explosions and duel monsters.

It was an amazing sight to be honest. He couldn't stop himself from rushing over to get a look over at the railing, staring in awe at the ten duels going on at once, ten hopefuls dueling their hearts out in the attempt to be able to enter Duel Academy as students.

Sure, Shirou had been in many tournaments, but those were usually small-time gigs, usually just for some sort of commemorative event for a game shop or something. But these were something else. There were some people like the "clowns" he had beaten easily, but there were others whom Shirou actually thought might actually be worthy of a bit of his attention.

He leaned on the railing, observing as many moves were taken at once by various different duelists.

"I think this might actually be worth my time." The corners of his mouth curled into a small smirk, his interest showing plainly on his face.

Since all of the fields were taken, Shirou decided to pass the time by observing both the Proctors and the student candidates. He saw no harm in seeing what may possibly be a deck used against him in his exam and there was no harm seeing his future "competition" at Duel Academy. In the meantime, he made some last-minute adjustments to his deck. Nothing too big. Mostly cosmetic changes so his moves flowed more smoothly.

Shirou had seen many hopefuls scrape by, many hopefuls dominate the game, and he had seen several hopeful candidates wash out completely, their monsters decimated by the Proctors' decks.

Then the PA system came on:

 _"Shirou Fujimura, please report to Duel Field #3! I repeat: Shirou Fujimura, please report to Duel Field #3!"_

And then Shirou's grin reappeared on his face.

"About time..." Not one for waiting or walking, Shirou leaped over the railing down to the lower platform, much to the surprise of the examinees around him. "Time to show these clowns what I'm made of!"

He burst into running, heading over to the indicated Duel Field. Even then, he couldn't help his wandering eyes, observing the many duels he passed by. He had been so unfocused that he ran face-first into one of the arena walls, causing a horribly unpleasant smacking sound.

Using both arms, Shirou pushes away from the wall, rubbing his nose.

 _"Last time: Shirou Fujimura, please report to Duel Field #3! Failure to appear will result in automatic applicant rejection!"_

Shirou stiffened before breaking out into a SPRINT. He didn't want to fail just because he was sight-seeing. That would be so lame!

And before he knew it, he had entered the Duel Field. It was more well-made than e local Dueling Arenas and Fields. Only the more well-off businesses and groups could afford to always keep their Duel facilities in pristine condition. Shirou was so used to seeing chipped paint and scattered garbage that it came as such a huge shock to see one so clean and well-made. It looked like nobody had ever dueled there. That's how clean it was.

"Applicant! State your name!"

"Huh? What?" Shirou couldn't help but feel that he needed to be more aware of his surroundings. He turned to face the woman who addressed him.

She was in her mid to late twenties to early thirties, wearing a dark blue Proctor uniform with a long, blue skirt. She was so in dress code that even her fingernail polish was a dark-blue color. She had incredibly long, blonde hair tied in two "drills" and violet eyes. She possessed pale but smooth-looking skin with a beauty mark about at the corner of her left eye. Not the most attractive woman nor was she plain. The only mismatching part of her outfit were the high heels she was wearing which were red in color.

"Do you have cotton in your ears?" The Proctor asked, irritated at being ignored. She spoke with a slight accent. German, maybe Russian, Shirou had no idea. He was never good with foreign languages. "I asked for your name, applicant."

"Shirou. Shirou Fujimura." He finally responded. He saluted her jokingly. "Reporting for duty, ma'am!"

The woman "scanned" him, for there was no other way to describe the analytical gaze directed in Shirou's direction.

"Tsk tsk, little boy!" The woman scolded mockingly. It could have been playful, but it was hard to tell with that accent of hers. "If you wish to thrive at Duel Academy, you have to pay better attention. My name is Katja Weisse and I will be your Proctor for this examination, but you may call me Ms. Weisse, little boy."

"Can we just get on with this?" Shirou hated formalities. They were very irksome. Not to mention the sooner he finished this exam, the sooner he could get on with his life.

"Such an impatient little boy." She pulled out a deck and showed it to me. "Compared to the written exam, this exam is easy. In order to pass, you must simply defeat me in a duel."

"That does sound pretty easy." Shirou couldn't help his confidence as he pulled his deck out. "First I'll beat you, get through that boring academy for four years, then come back and beat my sister in a duel. I don't need schooling to know I'm going to win!"

"Ufufufufu! I said it was simple, not easy, little boy!" The Proctor laughed at him. Shirou's eye twitched at being called a "little boy" again. "I may be an examiner, but that does not mean I'm going to just let you pass without a fight. I will use every card in this deck in an effort to defeat you, so you must utilize every one of your cards to the fullest to defeat me."

Shirou raised his Duel Disk, grinning. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road!"

Weisse smiled. "Very well then!"

Both duelists inserted their decks into their Duel Disks.

[Let's Duel!]

Both drew five cards to start their hands.

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Weisse: 4000 LP**

""Ladies first" as they say." Shirou offered, bowing in an exaggerated fashion.

"How polite, little boy! Very well. Then it is my turn. Draw!" Weisse drew a card from the top of her deck, glancing at it before adding it to her hand. "It is only a shame that politeness does not earn you any points on this exam. First I summon Goblin Zombie to the field in defense mode!" A skeletal creature rose from the ground, possessing blue armor-like shoulder blades and an insect-like face, wielding a small dagger like sword in its hand (4/ATK: 1100/DEF: 1050). "And then I lay two cards face-down before ending my turn." Two reverse cards appeared on the field. "You're move, little boy."

"First off, I'm NOT a little boy. And that wasn't a very strong first move, teach. Time to show'em how it's done! Draw!" Shirou drew a card and added it to his hand. His hand hovered over his cards, Shirou deciding which card best fit the situation. "Alright then. I activate the spell card, Reinforcement of the Army, which allows me to add one level four or lower Warrior-type monster from my deck to my hand." Shirou took out his deck, drawing out a card before returning his deck to his Duel Disk to be shuffled. "And now I summon out Marauding Captain in attack mode!" An armored, blonde-haired man dual-wielding swords appeared on the field (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 400). "And his special ability lets me summon yet another monster from my hand as long as they're level four or lower. So now I can summon out the Marauding Captain I added to my hand using my spell card." Another monster, similar to the first, appeared on Shirou's field (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 400).

"Impressive. You have created an attack-lock barrier using the effects of your two Marauding Captains, since Marauding Captain's special ability makes it that only it can be targeted. With two, attacking is impossible." Weisse started clapping her hands. "Bravo."

"Thanks, but that's not all. I activate the spell card, The A. Forces!" A bluish-green framed card appeared on the field, possessing an image of warriors protecting villages from a dragon-like monster. "The A. Forces allows me to increase the ATK of all Warrior-type monsters on my side of the field by 200 for each Warrior or Spellcaster-type monster I possess on my side of the field. Now both of my Marauding Captains get 400 ATK points since I have two Warrior-type monsters on my field, adding up to 1600 ATK points each."

Both monsters gained stronger stances, glowing slightly.

"And now I attack your Goblin Zombie with my Marauding Captain!" One of the soldiers charged forward, swinging both swords wildly, easily cutting through the opposing monster's defense in an X-shaped pattern. Goblin Zombie let a shriek of objection before exploding into tiny digital pieces. "And now I'm going to attack directly-"

"Not so fast! I activate one of my face-downs, the trap card, Rope of Life!" One of the face-down cards flipped face-up, revealing a trap card depicting a knight hanging on for dear life using a rope. "By discarding my entire hand to the graveyard, I can bring back the monster that you just destroyed!" Weisse slid the remaining two cards into her graveyard as per the conditions. "And now, not only does Goblin Zombie return to the field, but he also gains 800 additional ATK points!"

Goblin Zombie reappeared on the field, seeming slightly larger than last time.

"And, since he was already sent to the graveyard once, after resolving the effect of Rope of Life, I can add one Zombie-type monster with 1200 or less DEF points from my deck to my hand." Weisse took a card from her deck and added it to her hand.

'It's 1900 ATK points to my monsters' 1600 ATK points.' Shirou sighed.

'I'll have to wait til I can either summon out more warriors to increase their power with my spell card or summon something stronger.' He took one card from his hand and laid it face-down. A large reverse card appeared on the field. "I lay this card face-down and end my turn."

"Draw!" Weisse drew another card, smiling to herself. "I activate the spell card, Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two cards!" The proctor added two additional cards from the top of her deck to her hand. "And now I release my Goblin Zombie to summon Vampire Lord in attack mode!"

Goblin Zombie disappeared in a flash of light, being replaced by a growing dark shadow. The shadow gradually took form and gain an appearance. The new monster on the field possessed whitish-blue hair and ghostly pale skin, wearing a mantle over its formalwear (5/ATK: 2000/DEF: 1500).

"And because my Goblin Zombie was sent to the graveyard, I can add another monster to my hand." Weisse added another card to her hand. "And I end my turn."

"My turn!" Shirou added another card to his hand. "Next, I'm summoning Masked Dragon in defense mode!" A white-faced dragon with a crimson-red underbelly appeared on the field (3/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1100). "Then I lay another card face-down and end my turn." A second reverse-card appeared next to the first on Shirou's side of the field.

'I don't have a monster that can destroy that Vampire Lord yet.' Shirou groaned, staring longingly at his hand. 'At most, I can stall her using by building up my defense. All I can do is wait.'

Weisse drew a card. She smiled. "Alright then, I will start my turn by activating my other face-down card, Raigeki Break." Her remaining face-down flipped face-up, revealing a trap card, its image being a hand whose index finger was releasing a blast of magic at an opposing monster. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can select one card on the field and destroy it. And I'm going to choose one of your Marauding Captains!"

After Weisse discarded a card from her hand, a powerful bolt of lightning shot out of the card, electrocuting one of the Marauding Captains on the field until it exploded into a million tiny pieces.

"And that's not all. I summon Pyramid Turtle in attack mode." Shirou could find no words more adequate to describe the monster's appearance than its own name. It looked like a giant turtle whose shell was a pyramid (4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1400). "And now I attack your Marauding Captain with my Vampire Lord!" Vampire Lord lunged forward at the Marauding Captain, piercing through its chest with its bare hand. Yet another monster from Shirou's side of the field ended up exploding like it had stepped on a mine.

 **Shirou: 3600 LP**

 **Weisse: 4000 LP**

"It looks like I've drawn first blood!" Weisse laughed in a way that sent chills down Shirou's spine. "And when Vampire Lord inflicts damage, I can call either Monster, Spell, or Trap, and you have to get rid of one card from your deck that fits the description. So now I want you to scrap a spell card from your deck."

"Fine..." Shirou took one card from his deck and slid it into the graveyard.

"And now I use my Pyramid Turtle to attack your Masked Dragon!" Weisse's other monster leaped high into the air, higher than one would expect of a beast that size, before dropping its entire body weight on Masked Dragon, crushing it.

Shirou shielded his face from the gusts created by the attack. "Now I activate Masked Dragon's special ability!" Shirou took a certain card from his deck. "Whenever Masked Dragon is destroyed by battle and sent to the graveyard, I can special summon one Dragon-type monster from my deck whose ATK is 1500 or less! So I'm summoning out another Masked Dragon in defense mode!" A dragon similar to the one just lost appeared on t he field.

"An admittedly alright move, little boy, but you can't keep avoiding damage forever." Weisse taunted. "You're going to need to attack me at some point or do you believe you can defeat me with a "Deck Out" tactic?"

"As if I'd do something that cowardly! A real duelist faces their opponent head on!" Shirou showed his Duel Disk. "And last I checked, I'm a REAL duelist!"

"What a cute sentiment, but being a "true duelist" means nothing if you can't actually WIN the duel." Weisse countered. "Anyway, I end my turn."

Shirou nodded, silently drawing a card. "First off, I activate my face-down trap card, Reckless Greed." One of Shirou's two face-downs flipped face-up, revealing the picture of a treasure chest sitting over a trap door, a greedy man unaware of the trap. "With this card, I can draw two cards, but I have to skip my next two draw phases." Shirou drew two cards. "And now I activate the spell card, Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two MORE cards!" Shirou drew yet another two cards.

He now had a full hand. He had to make these cards last for the next two turns due to the effects of his trap card.

"How reckless, but then again, I suppose that's why you used the trap card, Reckless Greed~ Ufufufufu~"

Shirou breathed in, then out, ignoring that comment.

"And now I activate the spell card, Draconnection." A card appeared on the field bearing the image of a dragon standing protectively in front of a human. "By revealing one Dragon-type monster in my hand, I can select a Dragon-type monster from my deck with the same level and add it to my hand. So I'll reveal my Lancer Lindwurm, a level 4 monster." Shirou used his Duel Disk to display the image of the spear-wielding dragon he held in his hand. "And now I return him to the deck so I can add a new dragon to my hand." Shirou then shuffled his deck upon completion of the spell's effect.

"So? You exchanged one monster for another. What is that supposed to do?" The proctor asked with a laugh. "Level 4 monsters with more than 2000 ATK points are relatively rare."

"If you would SHUT UP and let me make my move, you would understand why I did that!" Weisse blinked, taken aback by the sudden hostility. "Anyway, now I summon the monster I added to my hand to the field. So come on out, Alexandrite Dragon!" A bipedal dragon appeared, its scales made up of priceless gems and treasures (4/ATK: 2000/DEF: 100).

"Hmph! A strong monster, but it's still not enough to defeat my Vampire Lord. Or did you intend to recklessly destroy both of our monsters, little boy?" It was quite obvious that that question was also a taunt.

"No. The only monster getting sent to the grave is your Vampire Lord, coz now I'm activating my second face-down!" The second reverse-card on Shirou's field flipped face-up, revealing three sticks of dynamite stuck together and attached to a chain. "This is the trap card, Blast with Chain. It allows me to select one monster on my side of the field and boost their ATK points by 500. And I'm using it on Alexandrite Dragon!"

A chain wrapped around Alexandrite Dragon's arm, a huge stick of dynamite tying itself to the dragon's fist.

"And when you count it now, there's a distinct 500 point difference between both of our monsters' ATK. I'm also going to switch Masked Dragon to attack mode." Shirou smirked. "Now, Alexandrite Dragon, take out her Vampire Lord!"

With a powerful beat of its wings, Alexandrite Dragon ascended into the air. Then, in sharp burst of speed, it shot towards the ground, throwing its dynamite-equipped fist at Vampire Lord. There was a huge explosion, the smoke clearing to reveal Alexandrite Dragon as the victor.

 **Shirou: 3600 LP**

 **Weisse: 3500 LP**

Weisse waved off any concern about her destroyed monster. "So you managed to summon out a monster strong enough to defeat Vampire Lord. You have a long way to go before this duel is over."

"True enough, but I'll push things along by having Masked Dragon take out your Pyramid Turtle." Masked Dragon unleashed a huge ball of fire from its mouth that easily enveloped and destroyed Pyramid Turtle.

Weisse once again did not react to the loss of her life points.

 **Shirou: 3600 LP**

 **Weisse: 3300 LP**

"Sorry, little boy, but I believe you just ensured your own failure!" Shirou couldn't help but tense at Weisse's sudden declaration. "Thanks to Pyramid Turtle's special ability, I can summon any Zombie-type monster with 2000 or less DEF points from my deck! So I'm going to bring a face I'm sure you're familiar with: Vampire Lord!" A monster completely identical to the vampire that was recently destroyed appeared on the field.

"...but you just summoned out the same monster as before..." Shirou stared in confusion. "How is that supposed to topple my Alexandrite Dragon?"

Yet another chill went down Shirou's spine at the confident smile on Weisse's face.

"You'll see in but a moment. Just continue as normal for now."

"Fine then..." Shirou examined the cards in his hand. Then he examined the cards on the field. "Fine then. I'll end my turn. Do your worst!"

"Oh, I plan to, little boy~" Then Weisse drew another card. "Now that it's my turn, it's time to show you the level of difference between the two of us!"

And that was when the air started to become even heavier than it was before. Shirou stumbled back when a skull suddenly sprouted from the ground. Then came the freaky fog. It was by that point that Shirou noticed the vegetation that had started to grow around him before it slowly withered away and died. The monsters on Shirou's side of the field started looking rather unhealthy, like they were withering away.

"What...What is this?!" For the first time, Shirou was genuinely shocked and even a little afraid.

"So glad you asked~! This is the field spell known as Zombie World, which I played from my hand just now~!" Weisse explained, spreading out her arms as the previous duel field was completely swallowed by a dark and almost suffocating forest which possessed varying degrees of horrific vegetation. "And thanks to this field spell, all monsters on the field and in the graveyard become Zombie-types~ Sorry to say, little boy, but with this field spell, you can forget your A. Forces spell card if you intended to up the power of anymore Warrior-types!"

Shirou stared blankly.

"O...K...I wasn't planning on summoning any Warrior-types yet. I mean, my Alexandrite Dragon is more than strong enough to take out your Vampire Lord again, even with this field spell."

Weisse paused, rubbing her chin. "Oh yeah. I suppose I should have made my next move before making that announcement if I wanted more dramatic effect...Oh well~" Shirou could only stare in response. "Now I activate a special ability!"

"Wait, what?! You can't make me throw away a card when your Vampire Lord hasn't even attacked yet!"

"Oh no, little boy~" Weisse shook her head, possessing an expression as if she were correcting a child. "Not an ability of a monster on the field, but an ability of a monster in my graveyard!"

'What is she talking about?' Then Shirou realized it.

"Judging from that expression on your face, you've realized it, right?" Weisse gestured to a compartment of her Duel Disk. "It was one of the cards I send to my graveyard earlier as a result of my Rope of Life trap card. I had intended to save it for just this type of situation. Now that you've stepped up your game, it's time for me to step up mine! I activate the effect of the monster, Mezuki, in my graveyard! By removing him from play, I can special summon another Zombie-type monster from the graveyard! And since all monsters in the graveyard have become Zombie-types thanks to my field spell, I can summon out a certain friend of mine! Come forth, Summoned Skull!"

A swirling mass of black clouds gathered in the sky before unleashing a powerful lightning bolt, blasting the ground of the field. When the smoke cleared, a new monster had appeared. A violet-fleshed fiend with skeleton-like armor and bat-like wings on its back (6/ATK: 2500/DEF: 1200).

"And since he was special summoned, I can summon out another monster. So I summon Zombie Mammoth, in attack mode!" A mammoth composed only of bones assembled onto her field (4/ATK: 1900/DEF: 0). "And now I have more than enough monsters to deal some serious damage. First I'm going to send my Summoned Skull after your Alexandrite Dragon! Go, Lightning Strike!" Summoned Skull unleashed a heavy bolt of lightning, Alexandrite Dragon responding in kind with a powerful blast of earth-scorching flames. Both monsters were destroyed as their respective attacks met their intended targets. "And now, I'm going to use my Zombie Mammoth to take out your Masked Dragon!"

The rampaging skeleton charged forth, slamming into the monster on Shirou's field, causing it to shatter like glass.

 **Shirou: 3100 LP**

 **Weisse: 3300 LP**

"Alright, but I activate Masked Dragon's ability! As I'm sure you remember, Masked Dragon's ability lets me summon one monster from my deck as long as it has 1500 or less ATK points!" Shirou took out his deck and began rummaging through it for the card he wanted to play.

'This is really bad.' He thought to himself. 'With three powerful monsters like that on the field, I can't deal a single point of damage, especially since the only monster in my hand is Buster Blader. I have Swords of Revealing Light in my hand, but it won't make a difference! I've really set myself behind with Reckless Greed, so I can't draw for my next two turns, so forget about summoning out another monster. Any monster strong enough to deal with Vampire Lord would need a tribute...'

"My patience is wearing thin, little boy!" Weisse warned, tapping her foot impatiently. "Make your move quickly!"

"Hold on, I'm thinking!" Shirou screamed back.

'Even though I have Monster Reincarnation in my hand, it's no good since I would need to give up Buster Blader or Swords of Revealing Light. And there's no way that she would sacrifice Summoned Skull so easily if it was the strongest monster in her deck...' Shirou started banging his fist against his head, groaning. 'There's no way to get out of this! I don't have the time, even with Swords of Revealing Light to draw a monster strong enough to deal with her monsters!'

Shirou continuously shifted his eyes through his deck, trying to find SOMETHING that could stand up to Vampire Lord's next attack. If he didn't, it would only take one more round of attacks to deplete the rest of his life points.

'This...There's no way...I'm...I'm going to lose...I'm going to fail the exam!'

He couldn't draw monsters to defend himself, he had no spells or traps capable of dealing with Weisse's monsters at the moment, and no monster he summoned could be strong enough to repel Vampire Lord's attack-

'Wait a minute!' And that was when something abnormal caught his eye. A certain card in his deck.

Shirou drew it out and his eyes widened. '...This card...it wasn't in my deck before. So how did...'

Then his mind wandered back to the events of that morning. Who had been the only person to have had contact with his deck since the previous night? The one person who could have slipped this card in without him noticing...?

 _"Don't come back til you can beat me in a duel!"_

The corners of Shirou's mouth curved upward. "Tch...I'm gonna turn this duel around thanks to a gift from my sister...how cliche." Then he slapped the card against his monster card zone. "But I'll take it! I summon Keeper of the Shrine in defense mode!" A demon-looking old man appeared, sitting cross-legged wearing a red sash around his waist (4/ATK: 0/DEF: 2100). "And last I checked, his defense points are higher than your Vampire Lord's ATK points, so for now, I'm safe."

Weisse shrugged. "Oh well. I end my turn I suppose. I hope you know that, no matter what you do, it will all be pointless once I draw that certain card. So savor your hope of winning while it lasts, coz I'm going to crush it into little tiny pieces and send you crying home to mama!"

"You know, it's hard to believe you're a teacher. You act a lot like a cliche TV villain." Shirou point out, turning the other way while snickering to himself.

"W-What?! N-No I'm don't!" Shirou couldn't help but notice the embarrassed expression on her face. "And for your information, my students really enjoy my class! I've been nominated for the Teacher of the Year award three times, you stupid little boy!"

"OK, OK, geez! Calm down!" Shirou raised his hands in surrender, uncertain how that teasing comment turned into something that serious. "Anyway, it's my turn. Because of the effect of Reckless Greed, I can't draw this turn, but I'm going to make sure I won't be in as much danger using THIS!" A spell card appeared on the field, depicting shining swords. "Swords of Revealing Light!" Weisse's field was then slowly filled with magic swords, her monsters being surrounded and blocked by the magic swords. "Thanks to this card, my life points and my monsters are safe from your attack! And with that, I end my turn."

"How dull. You're going to have to do better if you want to win this duel! I draw!" Weisse drew another card. "And now I summon the monster, Paladin of the Cursed Dragon!" A white-armored knight riding a zombified dragon appeared on the field (4/ATK: 1900/DEF: 1200). "And I use his special ability which lets me summon one level 4 or lower Zombie-type monster from your graveyard that was destroyed by battle! And, thanks to Zombie World, all monsters in your graveyard are Zombie-types, so I'm going to bring back a monster I'm sure is fairly familiar to you: Alexandrite Dragon!" The gem-covered dragon let out a powerful roar as it appeared on the battlefield once more (4/ATK: 2000/DEF: 100). "And that's all for now."

Shirou sighed. "Not like there's much I can do right now...so I'll end my turn."

"Draw!" Weisse smirked at the card she drew. "Well, I honestly didn't think this would happen, but it appears that my trump card will make an appearance sooner than I thought." The air became heavy again. Then the ground began to tremble lightly. Then it began to quake with even greater fury.

"W-What's going on!?"

"The ultimate test I can give you in this duel is about to appear!" Weisse announced. "Now, I can banish my Vampire Lord from the field to bring an even more powerful monster to the field. I summon my strongest monster, Vampire Genesis!"

The earth practically broke apart due to the force of the monster rising from the ground. First it was a giant fist, but then the monster began clawing its way upward. The giant mass completely broke through to the surface, revealing its full behemoth-like size. It possessed giant, violet flesh and muscles that would make a professional body-builder jealous as well as four demonic wings, its body possessing horns protruding at various places (8/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2100).

"Hey! You can't summon that!" Shirou objected, pointing an accusing finger at Weisse. "It's level eight and you only sacrificed one monster!"

"Ah yes, but thanks to my Vampire Genesis' special ability, I can special summon him by banishing Vampire Lord." Weisse brushed a strand of hair from in front of her face. "If you had spent your time studying rather than stroking your own ego, you might have known that there are monsters with such abilities, little boy."

Shirou growled. "I told you: I don't need any dumb Duel Academy to know how to win a duel! I'm gonna take you down!"

"We'll see about that, little boy. I activate my Paladin of Cursed Dragon's ability again." She withdrew another card from the graveyard. "So return to the field, Goblin Zombie!" Yet another monster returned from the grave (4/ATK: 1100/DEF:1050). "I end my turn."

"My move!" Shirou let out a sigh of relief as he drew a card from his deck. 'Finally, I can draw cards again. I really underestimated this lady.'

Shirou looked at the card in his hand. Then he smirked.

"You had better think carefully, little boy." The teacher warned. "You only have one more turn after this since your Swords of Revealing Light will wear off after my next turn."

"I know that! That's why I'm going to activate this spell card." A card with the image of a shining, pendant-like object appeared on the field. "The spell card, Monster Reincarnation! This allows me to discard one card from my hand so I can add another monster in my graveyard to my hand." Shirou removed a card from his graveyard, smiling confidently. "And this is a monster you're familiar with. Now, Marauding Captain, return to battle in defense mode!" (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 300) "And now I end my turn."

"I don't know what you have in mind, but I'm filled with anticipation, little boy~" Weisse drew another card. "I lay one card face-down and end my turn." The swords around Weisse's monsters began disappearing one by one. "You had best spend your next move wisely, little boy, for next turn I will unleash the full fury of my Vampire Genesis."

"I know that!" Shirou drew a card. "And now, I release both my Marauding Captain and my Keeper of the Shrine so I can summon one of the strongest monsters in my deck! Take flight, Tyrant Dragon!" A pillar of flames erupted from the ground, cleared with a gust that was created by a single wingbeat from the giant, leathery brown dragon within (8/ATK: 2900/DEF: 2500). "With this monster, I'm going to deck you one!"

"Ufufu~ In case you failed math, you do realize that your monster is still 100 points short of being able to defeat my Vampire Genesis, right?" Weisse laughed into the back of her hand, mocking Shirou.

"True, but he's more than strong enough to take out your other monsters! Tyrant Dragon, take out her Paladin!" All it took was a single stream of flames from Tyrant Dragon's mouth to bathe and destroy her Paladin of Cursed Dragon.

Weisse braced herself due to the explosive force sent her way.

 **Shirou: 3100 LP**

 **Weisse: 2300 LP**

"And Tyrant Dragon also has a special ability! When he destroys a monster, if you still have another monster on your side of the field, he can attack a second time! Now, Tyrant Dragon, take out her Goblin Zombie!" Like Weisse's Paladin, her Goblin Zombie met an inferno-induced demise.

"Thanks for that." Weisse said. "Now I can add another monster to my hand thanks to Goblin Zombie's effect."

 **Shirou: 3100 LP**

 **Weisse: 500 LP**

"And now I end my turn with a face-down!"

"So, it looks like the little boy is all out of tricks. This ends now!" Weisse added a card to her hand. "Now I activate the spell card, Lightning Vortex." A spell card with the image of numerous lightning strikes appeared. "By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy all face-up monsters on your side of the field, one of said monsters being your Tyrant Dragon." Lightning bolts shot out of the card, aiming at Tyrant Dragon.

"What?!" Shirou raised his arm as Tyrant Dragon was electrocuted and destroyed.

"Sorry, little boy, but this duel was over before it started! Vampire Genesis, attack him directly!" The monstrous vampire raised its fist, preparing to hammer it down on Shirou.

"I activate Negate Attack!" A powerful barrier appeared above Shirou's head, corresponding with the image on the card. Vampire Genesis was met by a powerful return force, knocking it back several steps. "Now your attack is negated and the battle phase ends!"

"I see, so your plan was to ward off Vampire Genesis' first strike using Negate Attack," Weisse guessed (correctly), "and then use your Tyrant Dragon to attack Alexandrite Dragon to finish off my life points." She frowned. "Either way, it matters not. I do not jest this time. Your next turn WILL be your last. You have no cards left on the field and no cards left in your hand. Even if you somehow manage to summon out a monster, there's no way it could even scratch Alexandrite Dragon."

"J-Just shut up and end your turn already!" But Shirou's panic was clear on his face.

"Very well then. You're move."

Shirou stared at his deck, unable to keep from being nervous.

'That was my last strategy. She's right. I have nothing else that could give me an edge!' Shirou swallowed. 'Am...Am I really going to lose...? It can't be...I never lose! Makoto can be the only person I allow to defeat me! I won't bow my head to someone else!...but how can I hope to counter Weisse's monsters when they all have at least 1900 ATK points?!'

"You have fifteen more seconds to draw, little boy!" Weisse warned. "Failure to do so will be taken as a forfeit!"

"There has to be something...anything..." Shirou placed a hand on the top card of his deck. "Dad...if you can hear me, wherever you are, please give my some help with this one...Let me draw something that can turn this situation around."

"Five seconds...Four. Three. Two-"

"I DRAW!" Shirou drew what would very well be host last card, one way or another. He was almost afraid to see what card it was.

"Well, what has fate granted to you in your hour of need, little boy?" The mocking proctor asked. "Or would you like to save some dignity and forfeit right now? No shame in trying again next year~"

Shirou drew the last card he held in his hand, raising it up to the sky, his eyes closed with an expression of concentration on his face. Then his eyes suddenly opened, his smirk becoming a more calm, more focused smile.

"To answer your questions in order: Just the card I need and NO WAY!" Shirou place the card on the field. "I'll finish this duel with Monster Reborn!" A brilliant light radiated on the battlefield. "Alright! The stage is set! Iiiiiiit's showtime!"

Weisse raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" Her confidence disturbed Shirou.

"Yeah! Now I can use this card to bring back any monster from the graveyard, so now I resurrect the monster I discarded earlier!" Shirou drew a familiar swordsman from he graveyard. "So welcome back to the land of the living, Buster Blader!" An armored swordsman carrying a massive sword appeared on the field (7/ATK: 2600/DEF: 2300). "And thanks to him, I have all of the firepower I need to finish this! The monster I'm attacking is Alexandrite Dragon! Buster Blader, finish this! Dragon Buster Blade!"

The knight-like monster leaped forward, landing on Alexandrite Dragon's back and plunging his blade through the beast's back. Alexandrite Dragon let out a roar of discontent before being destroyed.

Shirou: 3100 LP

Weisse: 0 LP

"Game. Set. Match." Shirou wiped he sweat that had building up on his forehead. "How was that, teach?!" After being talked down to for the entire duel, Shirou felt it was gloating time. "I guess I'm not a little boy after all, huh? If it's that easy to beat a teacher, they might as well make me the boss of Duel Academy, hehe!"

But the older woman said nothing.

"Yes, you passed." But something felt...off. Weisse slowly approached Shirou, all of the holograms disappearing and the field returning to normal. Shirou flinched when a strong hand tightly squeezed his shoulder, pulling him forward.

'D-Did I take it too far?'

But the expression on Weisse's face was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Her eyes were half-lidded, but her expression was horribly neutral.

"Shirou Fujimura, can you tell me what card this is?" The older woman pulled Shirou closer, showing him a card in her hand.

Shirou took a close look, recognizing the image of the larger force overwhelming the smaller force.

"It...It's Mirror Force. Why?" Shirou frowned. 'What is the point of this...?'

But a small part of him KNEW what the point was...he just didn't want to admit it.

"And do you remember the face-down card I had left on the field...?"

And that was when Shirou's brain processed what she was getting at:

Her final trap on the field had been Mirror Force. If she had activated it when Shirou attacked, Buster Blader would have been destroyed and...

"You would've lost." Weisse voiced the thought in Shirou's brain. It wasn't with cruelty nor indifference. If anything, it might have been pity.

For Shirou, regardless of the intent, this revelation felt like a punch to the gut. He wanted to deny it, but deep down, he knew that it had been too easy. Why hadn't she switched her weaker monsters to defense mode? There was the chance one of them would have been destroyed, but at least her life points would have been safe. She wouldn't have been so reckless if she didn't have a back-up plan of some sort.

"But...why?" It didn't make sense to Shirou. "Why did you throw the duel...?"

"Oh, I didn't throw it." Shirou stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "I dueled to the best of my ability. I just felt you had more potential to give if you didn't use such slapdash tactics."

"Huh?"

"You played so recklessly and wastefully." Weisse explained. "You tried to make up for tactics with brute force and wishful thinking. You had no real counters or strategy. You focused only on summoning and destruction rather than keeping your field safe. Back when you summoned Tyrant Dragon, you could have used Keeper of the Shrine's ability to be used as two tributes to summon Tyrant Dragon and still keep Marauding Captain to draw my monster's next attack. You could have timed your use of Blast with Chain so you could draw a trap destroying card so you could utilize its second ability, being able to destroy one card when it's destroyed by an effect, to destroy my Vampire Genesis. Not to mention I LITERALLY created the perfect opening with my Zombie Mammoth. If you had destroyed him, I would have been inflicted damage equal to his original ATK points if you had paid any attention to his effects. And using Reckless Greed at that inopportune time was even more stupid. Rather than boosting your power, you crippled your own ability to improvise a comeback by taking away your own power to draw cards."

"...Then why..." She had said she wouldn't hold back...that she'd use every card in her deck to win...so why didn't she?

"Hm?"

"Why didn't you activate your trap card?"

Weisse released Shirou, turning on her heels and walking away, stopping at the exit to the Duel Field.

"It's as I said, you have a lot of potential that you seem to waste with street duels." Weisse's voice was soft but still neutral. "Even with your flawed tactics, you would have beaten me if I had not drawn Mirror Force at that time. I can only see you improving with time as long as you continue studying. See you at Duel Academy, _little boy._ "

And then she left, leaving Shirou alone on the Duel Field.

He fell to his knees, staring blankly at the ceiling.

'No...No matter how you spin it...This was my loss.'

 _"Applicant Shirou Fujimura, please proceed to exit Duel Field #3"_

* * *

 **And...Done. Well, my first Yugioh fic that I don't have to admit sucks. My first attempts at Yugioh were just god awful but I think this one might actually be BEARABLE.**

 **A few things:**

 **1) No flames. If you don't like, don't read.**

 **2) I am accepting suggestions for pairings, but be warned, this fic does not focus on romance. There may be romance at some point, but it won't be all mushy and lovey-dovey all the time. I dunno. I haven't decided anything really for romance. So if there's anyone you want to see with Shirou, leave it in a review.**

 **3) Don't say "Hey! But Camula had Vampire Genesis! Why did Weisse have one?!". News flash, Yugi-verse fans: There isn't only one copy of every card in the world. It's possible for others to have the same cards as others. There's even cookie cutter decks! There's a whole mini-arc devoted to a copycat duelist who has copied the cards of several people's decks! So none of that. XP**

 **PS: I'm accepting suggestions for a better name and summary...Coz they were...they're not the best I admit.**

 **Please leave reviews!**


	2. Arc 1 - Turn 2: Welcome to Duel Academy

**Here we go! Let's hope things go over well! Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter!**

 **I hope this chapter lives up to expectations. If it doesn't, I am deeply sorry. Please enjoy anyway.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

 **Arc 1 - Turn 2: Welcome to Duel Academy**

Shirou leaned back in his seat, a moping expression on his face.

The exams had finally ended, those who made the cut being easily discerned from those who didn't, and Shirou would be amongst those heading to Duel Academy rather than those being sent home. He had passed his exam. He had not let his sister or mother down. He would be receiving one of the supposedly best dueling educations available. He didn't care about that last part as much, but everything should still be great...

So as to why he looked so dissatisfied...

"I can't believe I was that outmatched..." Shirou whined to himself. "...the worst part is, I can't deny her words...I should have lost...but I didn't...I probably would have felt better if she had just beaten me..."

Then he started trembling clenching his fists.

"Grrrrrr!" Then he screamed, turning his face towards the sky, "THAT OLD HAAAAG! WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IIIIIIISSSSS!" He slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair. "Forget giving up! I'm gonna fix up my deck, make new strategies, and then I'm gonna school that old hag in how a REAL duelist duels!" Despite the fact he had been looking so depressed only moments ago, Shirou's ego mixed with his desire to improve himself had easily won him back his fighting spirit. "Yeah. I can fight! I can win! I! Can! Do! This!"

"Um...Are you alright?" asked the glasses-wearing, blue-haired boy sitting in the seat across the aisle from him. "...I mean, you've been talking to yourself for twenty minutes now..."

"H-Huh?! Have I?!"

"Yeah and...well...no offense, but it makes you look kind of creepy..."

Shirou felt a spike being shoved through his heart. "'Creepy'...?" Then he sank as far back into his seat as he could, an aura of depression covering himself.

"Oh...sorry."

"Well, good to see someone else is as energetic about Duel Academy as us, huh, Sy?" The brown-haired boy sitting next to the glasses boy was grinning cheerfully, nudging his friend's arm. The brown-haired boy just kept smiling happily as he turned to look out the window, completely oblivious to the depressed state Shirou was in.

Presently, many of the hopefuls who had passed the entrance exams were sitting in the rather cushy seats of a helicopter taking them to Duel Academy. Shirou had honestly been surprised when he learned that Duel Academy had its own helicopter let alone the fact it had its own island. Then again, when they owned such a well-maintained dueling arena, it should be expected. Shirou had even heard this place was created by Seto Kaiba himself, so, in hindsight, it probably made sense that they were able to afford such things.

 _"Attention new Duel Academy students,"_ The pilot's voice came on through the intercom, _"if you look outside your windows, you'll see your new home away from home for the year to come. I know you're excited, but don't shove. Quite a sight eh? You might want to put on your seatbelt and set your seats to an upright position. We're going in to land. Next stop: Academy Island."_

Shirou felt a sharp jerk as the helicopter began turning sharply, slowly approaching the ground below, the island's mass looking larger and larger the closer the helicopter go to the ground. Shirou felt his stomach lurch a little.

He wasn't afraid of heights, per se, he was mainly uncomfortable with the thought of being in enclosed spaces while rising and ascending like inside an elevator or a helicopter. He didn't like the feeling of being lifted or dropped through the air.

Shirou leaned on his arm, his elbow planted on the armrest as he stared anxiously out the window. He pulled out his deck, withdrawing his Buster Blader.

'Duel Academy...Even though I was reluctant to come here, I'll do my best to achieve my dream! I'll make you proud, Dad.'

And the helicopter kept on-course, eventually finally landing on island of Duel Academy.

* * *

The landing was fairly smooth. Shirou felt much calmer as the helicopter's position evened out and made contact with the nice, solid ground.

Shirou unbuckled himself as everyone else started standing from their seats, being ushered out of the helicopter by officials sent by the school. At first, he questioned why they would need to assign people specifically for helping fully capable teenagers out of a helicopter. Then he saw several people stumbling out of the helicopter, their legs shaking or having accidentally been knocked out by the person behind them.

Apparently some of them didn't have as strong legs nor stomachs as Shirou. Some of them immediately ran off to the edge of the platform to empty their stomachs.

The fact that people who get airsick took an exam to enter an academy in the middle of the ocean felt kind of stupid to him. There were only two methods of getting there. What did they expect?

Shirou looked as several school employees began taking out the students' bags, dropping them onto a cart which would be used to transport them. His heart jumped when they so casually threw them onto other peoples' bags, Shirou deeply resisting the urge to tell them a thing or two about taking care of other people's property.

'I swear, if they damage or look at anything in my bag, someone's gonna get decked!'

After everyone had finally gotten off the helicopter and those who needed to empty all of their stomach contents into the see did so, they were all herded like sheep towards the general direction of the Duel Academy's main building, stopping at a desk near the front entrance. There were three people behind the desk, two of them standing next to several boxes stacked on top of one another, filled with student uniforms which were passed out to the approaching newcomers.

Shirou shoved his hands into his pockets, yet again completely inattentive as he observed his surroundings.

"Name?" The person sitting at the desk asked, snapping Shirou out of his thoughts. "Your name please?"

"Oh, right." Shirou scratched his cheek, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Uh...Shirou Fujimura."

The person behind the desk gestured to the others who immediately started rummaging through the boxes, eventually bringing out a red-colored uniform along with an object that looked a lot like a PDA.

"This is your uniform and your personal PDA." The man explained obviously. "Other than your deck and Duel Disk, these are essentially all you'll need. There's a place for students to dress that way." The man pointed to the left. Shirou grabbed the items from their hands, walking in the indicated direction.

* * *

Shirou's first thought:

'Huh...I don't think red's my color.'

Shirou felt somewhat uncomfortable in his red student jacket. It wasn't much of a uniform really. Just a colored jacket. He wish he had gotten one of the blue jackets. He felt more suited to darker colors. God knows he DID NOT want the yellow jacket. Who on earth would want to wear such a disgustingly colored jacket? It was that thought that helped Shirou get more used to his red jacket.

Currently, he was with another group of students following a teacher/guide who escorted all of them to a classroom with a giant TV screen so large that he knew his sister would weep in envy if she saw it...and probably sneak in after-dark to steal it when no one was around. But anyway, Shirou recognized NONE of the other students there, so obviously none of the people from his hometown had made it into Duel Academy. He DID, however, recognize a certain brown-haired boy and blue-haired boy.

The teacher stepped to the side to give the students unblocked access to the screen upon which a bald man with a bear appeared. He wore a red coat and a tie.

"Good morning and welcome, students!" The man on the screen greeted. "I am Chancellor Sheppard, the headmaster here; and you are the best and brightest duelists the world has to offer!" Shirou crossed his arms, smirking to himself as his ego recovered from its previous wounds due to the man's praise. "Now, please get yourselves settled at your assigned dorms. I think you'll find them quite comfortable...depending upon how you ranked, of course." Sheppard gave a hearty laugh before the screen turned off.

* * *

"Huh...I wonder what he meant by that..." Shirou wondered to himself as he exited the main building. "And that joking laugh...I do NOT have a good feeling about this...What the heck was he talking about 'depending on how you ranked'...?"

"He's referring to the obvious bias that is caused by the social hierarchy that accompany the separation into dorms, homie." A tired and monotone voice answered, making the word "homie" sound completely out of place in his vocabulary. In fact, it sounded so out of place, that there should have been a law passed to legally ban him from using slang like "homie".

There was a loud yawn.

Shirou turned to his right, seeing nobody before turning left, noticing another person wearing a red jacket.

"Oh. Hey there." Shirou turned his attention back to in front of him as he- "EEEEEHHHH!? WHEN DID YOU GET THERE!?"

"Wow, you're slow." The boy said harshly. He possessed mid-length black hair with a short ahoge, and violet eyes. He wore a red jacket similar to Shirou's (albeit wearing it OVER his shoulders rather than wearing it in the traditional sense) along with black pants, his jacket being open to reveal a black T-shirt with detached long-sleeves. He wore three interconnecting belts around his waist with a skull buckle. Around his neck was a pendant that looks like a Duel Monster's card. "So you're in Slifer Red dorm, right? I could tell by the jacket."

Shirou raised an eyebrow. "Huh...Slifer? What are you talking about...?" Then he lifted up the bottom of his jacket. "You mean that's what the color meant?...Huh. I thought it was style choice. You mean I CAN'T just walk up to one of the blue jacket-wearing guys and ask them to trade jackets?"

Apparently, the other boy found something about that to be funny. He laughed.

"You COULD," He said, "but, depending on who you ask, you could get slugged in the face and probably seriously jacked up. You see, there are three dorms here: Obelisk Blue, which consists mainly of spoiled rich kids whose family bought their way in, but there's also a few duelists who actually know a thing or two; Ra Yellow, who are the intermediate duelists who have potential; and finally, there's Slifer Red, the bottom of the barrel. So asking someone something like that is NOT the best way to make friends, ESPECIALLY if you're one of the Slifer slackers."

Shirou narrowed his eyes, glaring. "Who's the slacker?" He couldn't suppress his annoyance.

"YOU, numbskull." The boy answered, seeming more amused than mocking. "It's best that you learn the rules of this place, both official and unofficial, before someone puts some serious hurt on that mug of yours."

"Oh yeah!? And who do you think you are?!" Shirou was getting seriously pissed now. He could kick anyone's butt all the way to next Friday! Who was this guy talking to!?

"Just a guy who came to check out the fresh meat." He answered in the same tone as before. "You're not in Rookie-ville anymore, buddy. Here, it's wise-up or shut-up, so I wish you luck not flunking out. Peace." The boy, completely ignoring Shirou, walked away, showing a peace sign over his shoulder.

Shirou waved in return, resisting the urge to flip the bird with his other hand. "Yeah! Screw you too, whoever you are!"

'Frickin weirdo.' Shirou muttered mentally.

He sighed to himself. "Whatever. He was just a weirdo anyway. I hope my roommate's not like that guy." He placed his hands on his hips, looking off into the distance. "Now...where's the Red Dorm...?"

"Hey there!"

Shirou jumped, shocked out of his thoughts by a slap on his back. His heart almost leaped out of his chest. He spun on his heels, turning to YET AGAIN see the two boys he had met and (somewhat) spoken to on the ride over to Duel Academy. All thought of that annoying guy from earlier completely left his mind.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya!" The cheerful voice apologized, not sounding very sorry.

Shirou stared at the brown-haired boy from earlier. "What do you want?"

The brown-haired boy grinned. "Well, Syrus and I recognized you from the ride here and decided to say hi."

The blue-haired boy, Syrus, backed nervously when he saw Shirou. "Um, you kinda decided that on your own, Jaden..."

The brown-haired boy, Jaden, seemed to completely ignore his friend and tugged on his own jacket. "We're all wearing the same color jackets, so I guess this means we're gonna be neighbors, being in the same dorm and all! That's pretty sweet huh?"

"Tooth-rottingly so." Shirou agreed, deadpan. Then his eyes rested on Syrus. "You. You're the shorty from before who called me "creepy"."

Syrus flinched, perhaps fearing some kind of blow. "Y-Yeah...Sorry about that. My mouth kinda acted before my brain did." He sounded like a sad puppy whom Shirou had slapped on the nose with a rolled up newspaper, also looking like he was gonna get slapped again.

"Hehe...Hahahaha!" He laughed, his unpleasant expression changing to a smile, unable to retain any real negative feelings against Jaden's positivity and Syrus' inability to look even mildly threatening. "Nah! It's alright! I'm not normally one to hold a grudge!" He extended his hand. "My name's Shirou."

Jaden slapped his hand against Shirou's, grabbing onto it and shaking it. "Jaden. Jaden Yuki! Nice to meetcha! This is my friend, Syrus!"

They released each other's hands, Shirou shoving his into his pockets. True, it felt odd to suddenly have some random guy whom you've only met once before walking up to you and acting all friendly, but still. Shirou knew he was going to be at this school for the long haul, one way or another. No reason to burn bridges that don't need to be burned. This was emphasized by the fact they could not simply avoid one another, living in the same dorm and all. Shirou didn't necessarily dislike Jaden (yet) anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

Shirou looked off to the side. "So, um, which way was the Red Dorm again?" Shirou asked, looking sheepish. In the short amount of time he had been on the island, he had not gotten a single glimpse of anything even remotely resembling a map. The moment he stepped off the campus, he was going to get lost forever. That was what he believed in with all of his heart. One thing that Shirou knew for sure was that he was TERRIBLE at finding his way on his own.

"I dunno. I was kinda hoping you would know!" Jaden replied with that same cheerful tone.

"Didn't EITHER of you bother checking your PDAs?" Syrus asked, stunned. "It has a map function, ya know."

Both Shirou and Jaden stared blankly.

[Really?]

Shirou stared at his PDA with new-found interest. "Huh. Now I get what they meant by how this was one of the only things we needed other than our uniforms." He pulled up a map and saw the various parts of the island separated into sections. "Pretty convenient."

"Now we can go check out the dorm. Pretty sweet!" Jaden cheered.

"Yeah, we should go check it out and get settled in before checking out the rest of the school." Syrus agreed.

"Rockin!" Shirou threw his fist up. "So let's go check out our new home away from home for the years to come!"

* * *

"So, this way, huh?" Shirou complained, trudging behind. "Who would be so cruel as to put a dorm this far from the main building...?"

"Oh come on, Shirou! Keep your chin up! We're almost there!" As usual, Jaden retained that goodhearted cheer of his. Shirou appreciated his ability to remain hopeful, but it was starting to get on his nerves.

"Shouldn't be much further..." Syrus chipped in.

"You guys have been saying that for-"

"We're here!"

Shirou looked up, blinking. "Huh. So we really were almost there."

'But I think I'm starting to understand what that weirdo meant concerning bias and social-whatevers...' That was what he thought when he realized how much further the Red Dorm was from the main building than the rest of the other students' dorms. That meant greater risks of being late to class for those who aren't early-risers.

Then Shirou laid his eyes on what was referred to as the Slifer Red Dorm.

He followed his fellow students down the dirt path towards their dormitory which, despite the clear safety hazards in the future of the Academy, sat near the edge of a small cliff. It was a small building looking over the ocean. It was yellow color (or perhaps the paint simply chipped off) with a bright red roof. From the front, they could see two stories with four doors each, with external stairs and walkways.

"This place..." Shirou started, barely more audible than a whisper.

Syrus sighed, hanging his head in disappointment. "Don't say it. This place is-"

"-AWESOME!" Shirou ran forward along with Jaden, getting closer so they could get a better glimpse of the glorious ocean view that upstairs walkway had to offer.

"Are you kidding? This place is an outhouse with a deck."

"Oh come on, Sy! It's not all bad!" Jaden replied positively. "Just look at that view!"

"Not just that, but also, every morning, we get to wake up to the savory salty scent of the sea!" Shirou added excitedly. "Who knows? If they let me into the kitchen, I could really make some tasty seafood! Catching fish for the dishes should be easy since we're so close to the ocean! Just picturing the various types of fish in this part of the ocean..." Shirou started drooling, grinning as if seeing many culinary possibilities appear before his eyes. "...so many possibilities..."

"Mmmm! You're kinda making me hungry, Shirou!" Jaden's grin was as wide as Shirou's as the white-haired boy pictured various foods possible to be cooked in the kitchen.

"Geez. You two are so alike in terms of optimism that it's scary." Syrus noted.

"But first things first. We gotta check out our rooms!" Jaden declared. "See you around, Shirou!"

"Yeah." Shirou nodded.

They made their way downstairs.

Jaden stopped in front of a door on the ground floor while Shirou took a few steps past him, stopping at the door next to him.

"Uh...Shirou, I think "See you around" means "see you later"." Jaden said, somewhat confused.

Shirou stared back. "I know. This is my room. Its room number is on the key I got."

"Wow, so we're neighbors on the ride here, friends, and now we're neighbors in the door?" Syrus noted with interest. "That's some luck."

Shirou shrugged. "I don't believe in things like fate or luck. It's usually coincidence and circumstance." Shirou pulled his key out of his pocket before inserting it into the lock of his door. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna relax after that long trip in the helicopter and take a nap. Wake me up when there's something to eat."

With those words, Shirou entered his room, examining the dully-decorated room that laid within. There were one or two posters, probably left over from the previous occupants, and a very old-looking TV. Against the wall was a triple bunk bed, indicating that each room was made for more than one person. It made sense considering that this dorm was not very large.

"Well...it's honestly kind of homey." Shirou said to himself, placing his hands on his hips. First thing he did was check all three beds, making sure that he was truly all alone before he truly let his guard down. If he ended up changing clothes or something like that, it would be embarrassing if he was being watched by someone else. Yet he found nobody...Perhaps he hadn't been assigned a roommate yet. "I hope they bring my stuff here." All he had brought with him was his Duel Disk and his cards.

He should have brought something to read from his bags. All he had with him were his cards and his deck was just fine the way it was...

And that was when his mind flashed back to those unpleasant words he heard moments before leaving his entrance exam.

 _"You played so recklessly and wastefully. You tried to make up for tactics with brute force and wishful thinking. You had no real counters or strategy."_

Shirou stared at the deck in his hands, tightening his fist around it.

"Tch! What does that hag know...?"

He set his deck next to his Duel Disk before crawling into the bottom bunk, laying his head back against the pillow.

"Time to catch a few Z's, I guess..." Shirou sighed. "Not a very good start to the epic tale of the next King of Games."

With that complaint in mind, he closed his eyes and eventually drifted off to sleep...

* * *

 _"Come on, Shirou, I know you can do it!"_

 _At nine years of age, Shirou was about a little less than half as tall as the older girl in front of him, both of them possessing Duel Disks on their arms. He wore a yellow T-shirt with a red start on them and jean shorts. A determined expression could be seen on his face._

 _"I know I can!" He drew a card. "And I summon Marauding Captain, whose effect I can use to summon another Marauding Captain from my hand!" (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 400)_

 _The girl in front of him extended her hand. "Activate trap, Black Horn of Heaven, which negates your special summon and destroys your second Marauding Captain." One of the her face-downs flipped face up, unleashing a powerful blast that completely destroyed Shirou's monster._

 _"Tch! I end my turn with a face-down!" Shirou placed a card in his Duel Disk. "Your turn, Makoto!"_

 _His sister was shorter than present-day and much more pleasant-looking, wearing her hair in twin tails. She was wearing a familiar-looking blue school uniform._

 _She was grinning cheerfully. "Sorry, Shirou, but your big sister ain't gonna hold back with this next turn!"_

 ** _Shirou: 300 LP_**

 ** _Makoto: 500 LP_**

 _"As if, Makoto! I'm gonna totally deck the field with you!" Shirou declared, pointing an accusing finger in his sister's direction. Shirou smirked as he looked at his face-down._

 _'Mirror Force. With that trap card, I just need to wait for Big Sis to attack me!' He thought to himself, smirking. 'I'm definitely gonna beat her today!'_

 _"I activate the trap card, Royal Decree!"_

 _'Wait what?!'_

 _A spell card depicting a large castle with numerous humans standing in front of it on the field in front of Makoto, Makoto smiling._

 _"Thanks to this trap card, all other traps are rendered ineffective since their effects are negated!" Makoto then placed another card from her hand onto the field. "Now I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!" A demonic beast wielding a double-sided spear appeared on the field (4/ATK: 1900/DEF: 1200). "And now, Vorse Raider, at-!"_

 _Shirou fell to his knees, turning his face towards the ground as he fell to all fours._

 _"...Um...Shirou...?" Makoto asked uncertainly, looking as if she was deciding between continuing her attack and going over to check up on her little brother._

 _"Makoto, Shirou! Time for dinner!"_

 _"Huh?!" Makoto turned her head to see the man who interrupted their duel approaching them._

 _The man who called out to them possessed medium length black hair which can be considered quite messy. He possessed sharp green eyes which fall under his thick eyebrows. Despite being close to middle-aged, he possessed a rather youthful appearance, dressed in a black sweatshirt and cargo pants._

 _"Ah! Dad!..." Makoto turned back to face Shirou, who was still on the ground. "I..."_

 _Her father walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Leave it to me." He flashed that cheesy grin that he had shown his children so many times, too many times to count._

 _Makoto looked from Shirou to her father one more time before nodding. "Alright." Then she started walking back towards the house._

 _Then Shirou's father walked over to his son, kneeling beside him._

 _"Just say it...I lost..." Shirou muttered, trying to conceal the childish tears streaming down his face. He had been SO CLOSE to beating his sister in the duel but then one single move turned the tides. It was just so unfair to him. Why couldn't he have won for once? Not to mention he lost while his dad was watching, so that was even more humiliating._

 _"How do you know...?" His father asked with such a confused tone that it made even Shirou second-guess himself._

 _"I-I lost my best trap card coz of Makoto's card! And her monster was gonna destroy mine!" Shirou cried, trying to wipe his eyes to make his face look less pathetic than it was._

 _Rather than respond, Shirou's dad softly tugged the cards in Shirou's hand, taking them. He held them up to his face, examining them closely. He frowned after staring for several seconds. Then he looked back to Shirou. He pulled out one of he cards and held it in front of Shirou's face for him to see._

 _"Shirou, can you tell me what card this is?"_

 _Shirou looked at the card, a spell card depicting a shrunken monster being stared at through some sort of circular looking glass._

 _"Um...That's Shrink..." At the time, Shirou couldn't fathom why his dad would be asking such a question. "It lets me halve the ATK points of one monster until the end of the turn..."_

 _"Well why didn't you play this card?"_

 _Shirou sniffles, tears still selling up in his eyes. "Coz it's a spell card and it wasn't my turn...so I couldn't use it..."_

 _And that was when Shirou's dad did something strange._

 _"PFFFTHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

 _He pulled his head back...and laughed. Uproariously. He was laughing for some reason._

 _"Stop laughin at me!" Shirou yelled, clenching his fists as his tears continued rolling down the sides of his face. He didn't understand why his father was laughing._

 _"Sorry! Sorry!" His dad apologized, slowly managing to get his laughter under control. Then he grinned. "You know, there's a chance you might not have lost."_

 _Shirou cocked his head sideways. "Huh...? But...I couldn't activate my traps. There was no way I could have beaten Makoto, even though she didn't use her real deck..."_

 _Makoto tried to hide it, but Shirou knew she hadn't been dueling seriously. She had her own cool, super rare deck that she only brought out at school or when dueling seriously. She held back because she didn't consider Shirou a skilled duelist. That's how Shirou saw it, at least._

 _Shirou's dad held out Shrink to Shirou. "You see, Shirou, this is what's known as a "Quick-Play" spell card, a spell card that can be activated at any moment during either player's turn as long as the conditions are met."_

 _Shirou's eyes went as wide as plates. "Whoa! You mean there's more than one type of spell card?!"_

 _His dad let out another small laugh at that. "Not just spell cards, but also monsters and traps too. Like how Royal Decree is what's known as a "Continuous" trap card. A skilled duelist knows how to utilize different types of monsters, spells, and traps in various combinations in order to unleash their full potential."_

 _Shirou frowned. "So I had the card I could have used in my hand and I still lost..." This made him feel even more like an idiot._

 _"Who knows." The older male shrugged half-heartedly. Shirou looked up at him. "I honestly don't think a duel's over until the last turn is played. As long as you have a single card in your deck, there will always be the possibility of changing the tides of a duel." That was when Shirou felt a gentle hand pat him on the head. "So don't cry."_

 _Shirou looked up at his father, staring in wonder._

 _His father just smiled softly. "Someday, if you keep honing your skills, you're going to become one of the greatest duelists ever."_

 _"Greater than even Yugi Muto?"_

 _"Even greater!" His father confirmed. "You have he potential to become the next King of Games, even, if you put your mind to it!"_

 _"Yeah! I'll build the worlds strongest deck and show everyone!" Shirou cheered. "I'll definitely become the next King of Games!"_

 _"Geez. In one ear and out the other." His father sighed, rubbing his head. He poked Shirou playfully in the chest. "I told you: It's not about the cards, it's about how you use them. But, if you want a card worth having, how about I give you this!" He pulled something out of his pocket, a card._

 _Shirou's eyes widened in shock. "That's...Buster Blader!"_

 _His father nodded, smiling brightly. "This is one of my treasured cards. Not because it's strong, but because it has been with me for a long time, helping me out of a lot of scrapes. I want you to hang onto it, Shirou."_

 _Nervously, as if fearing the card would disintegrate just by touching it, Shirou reached out and took the card. He stared at it in shock and awe._

 _"But, Daddy, this is one of your best cards!" Shirou objected. "If I take it, you might lose your next match!"_

 _This caused his father to laugh again. "Don't worry about it!" He pulled his own deck out of his pocket and showed it to Shirou. "I have quite a few other loyal cards in my deck that will keep me afloat!" He took Shirou's hands and closed them around Buster Blader. "So take it. Improve yourself. Someday, when you're strong enough for the big leagues, I want both of us to be able to duel each other to our fullest, a true father-son duel. When that time comes, Buster Blader will be the water, to the winner goes the spoils."_

 _He stood up, placing his hands on his hips._

 _"But, Daddy..."_

 _"You don't have to decide right now. If you want to give it back, you'll have to beat me in a duel when that day comes. I will duel to make you keep it." His father declared. "If you duel to keep it, I will duel to get it back. I don't want you to hold back in any way. And til that day, keep this card for yourself. Use it to remind yourself of your dream and strive to achieve it with all of your might! It is the symbol of not only our bond, but the bonds you will build between yourself and other true duelists and your friends! And-huh?!"_

 _He stopped, staring at Shirou as he realized the boy was crying again._

 _"Waaaaaaah! I'm definitely gonna get stronger!" He cried. "I'm gonna beat Daddy and Big Sis Makoto and I'm definitely gonna be the next King of Games! I'm gonna go on all sorts of adventures and duel lots of people and make lots of friends and find lots of delicious candy and cakes and everything! Just you wait and see! Waaaaaaah!"_

 _"Hehehe!" The older man chuckled. He reached down and patted Shirou on his head. "Ahahaha! That's my boy!"_

 _He stood up, extending his hand to Shirou, once again showing his softer, more honest smile._

 _"Come on, Shirou. Your mother's waiting for us to come for dinner."_

 _Shirou wiped his eyes, nodding._

 _"Right! Coming, Daddy!"_

 _Holding his father's hand, he began the trip home..._

* * *

Shirou was jolted awake by the sound of banging against the door, hitting his head against the bunk above him.

"Gah!" Shirou bit his lower lip, holding his head in pain while strongly resisting the urge to swear.

After a few seconds, he breathed in and out, trying to calm himself. It took a while for him to realize he was actually awake, no longer walking through that field in that moment that felt so long ago.

His expression fell. He hugged his legs against his chest.

"Geez. It's been a few years now and I still have that dream..." He remembered it so vividly, everything right down to the moves played during that duel between him and Makoto. He WISHED he could forget how much of a baby he had been. Remembering how he cried always embarrassed him.

He pulled out Buster Blader from his deck which laid on the ground next to him.

"Dad did win his next match...only took him three turns." Shirou sighed before placing Buster Blader back in his deck.

Then the banging on the door started once more.

"Coming!" He replied, groaning as he got out of his bed, stretching his arms. He must have been sleeping wrong because he felt really stiff.

The banging on the door intensified, as it impatient.

Shirou growled. "Hold on a second! I heard you!" He trudged over to the door, feeling more sluggish than when he went to bed as he yanked the door open, revealing the duo he had befriended only earlier that day. "Oh, hey there, Jaden, Syrus. What's up?" He let out a yawn, stretching his arms.

"We didn't see you anywhere, so we wanted to make sure you got to the dinner on time." Syrus explained.

"The what now?"

Jaden rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah! All of us newcomers are all being thrown a big welcome dinner! I can't wait to dig into whatever they cooked! I'm starved!" He paused, his smile turning into a simple line. "You got a weird look on your face, Shirou."

Shirou realized the relieved expression he was making and quickly turned the other way, trying to make his emotions less obvious.

"Sorry about that."

"You have a good dream? You look a little happy!"

Shirou shoved his hands in his pockets, turning his gaze towards the sky, contemplating on why he was relieved. It had just been a dream, but still...

"Yeah...It was a good dream." Then Shirou finally processed what Jaden had said before. His stomach seemed to growl in perfect unison with his mind processing the thought. "Did you say food?"

Syrus nodded. "Yeah, it's-"

"Then what are we waiting for!? Let's go get our grub on!"

Shirou led the three's charge towards the Slifer Red dining hall, their stomachs screaming out for the banquet crafted especially for them.

* * *

"This is what we get for our welcome dinner?" The other Slifer students sat at their seats in the cafeteria, groaning and complaining about the trays in front of them. On these trays were an odd combination of foods with sardines, rice, gravy with potato chunks in it, and a few pieces of pineapple.

Sitting on the desk at the end of the room was a very fat kitty, whom quite a few students were staring at.

"What's with that cat?"

"Is that cat really our headmaster?"

Amidst the complaints and annoyed comments of the students, a man walked into the room. He was a tall man with long, black hair, glasses, and dressed in a dress shirt and black pants. "Hello, children. I am Professor Banner and I'm also your dorm's headmaster. Now, before we eat, why don't we all tell everyone something about ourselves?"

Of course, there were two people who weren't exactly paying attention.

Sitting way in the back were two young men who were more focused on the food rather than the celebration.

"Mmmm! This is really good!" Shirou praised the food with his mouth full.

"Yeah! They sure knew how to cook!"

Jaden and Shirou started digging into their food the moment they got a tray in front of them, both of them eating so fast that it appeared they were having a contest of some sort to see who could eat faster. In all honesty, they were eating as if they hadn't had anything to eat for several days.

It would have been hard for Professor Banner to NOT notice them.

Sitting between them, a rather nervous Syrus trembled in his seat.

"Guys, he said to say something about ourselves first." Syrus warned, his fear worsening as the good professor walked closer. "I'd rather not be in trouble on my first day."

"Alright," Jaden agreed with his mouth full, "Im Jaden Yuki and I'm starving!"

"Shirou Fujimura," Shirou replied with an equally full mouth, "and I'd really like seconds here!" He held out his empty rice bowl before immediately switching his attention to the other food and digging into that.

Banner stopped next to their table and cleared his throat. Shirou and Jaden momentarily stopped eating and looked at him, their cheeks puffed up like squirrels who had been storing their acorns in their cheeks.

At first, everyone held their breath, expecting the two to get some kind of scolding...

Then Professor Banner smiled pleasantly. "Well I guess not everyone can wait. Let's just all dig in."

Shirou and Jaden needed no further invitation.

All in all, the atmosphere in the Slifer Red Dorm was very relaxed that evening.

* * *

Dinner had been delicious, in Shirou's opinion.

He and Jaden had eaten til they were absolutely stuffed. Some people didn't want to eat their food so that was more leftovers for the two and then there was even more food left in the kitchen which Professor Banner let Jaden and Shirou help themselves to after everyone else was clearly done.

Thus what had been a dinner became a feast for the two duelists.

Shirou really liked Professor Banner. He was a really cool person. Most teachers would scold or discourage students from doing such things and impose such strict rules on their students, but Professor Banner was a rather relaxed person. Shirou was certain that as long as students followed the major rules of the Academy, there wasn't much that could invoke his anger towards them.

If every teacher could be just like Banner, then maybe more people would have actually WANTED to go to school.

That was just Shirou's opinion at any rate.

However, unlike Jaden, Shirou felt responsible for cleaning up the mess left behind them, volunteering to stay in the dining room and kitchen to finish cleaning up and lock up afterwards. Banner was appreciative of course, and very trusting at that, giving Shirou the keys to the kitchen without any reservation. It almost troubled Shirou how calm he had been about it.

A part of him wondered if Professor Banner had just been completely irresponsible rather than easy-going.

Thus, it took a good half-hour to forty-five minutes to clean up after everyone, Shirou feeling satisfied after a long day's work.

If he hadn't been so focused on becoming King of Games, Shirou felt that the career he would be best-suited for would be running his own restaurant. He had a talent for cooking and kitchen maintenance.

Shirou stood on the second floor walkway, his eyes looking towards the horizon. He rested his head on the railing, his arms crossed as a cushion beneath his chin. His jacket hung over the railing next to him, Shirou having taken it off during the cleaning and having not out it back on. He had just been standing there for several hours. It was a quiet night, around midnight, holding peace that one would never expect, the only noise being the waves crashing against the cliffside.

"Geez...That stupid hag..." Shirou wished he could just get to sleep already but that was impossible for him. No matter how hard he tried to ignore them, Weisse's words continued to bother him...

No...that wasn't quite it earlier. He already knew he still had a lot to learn. He had come to terms with that, but it was his very presence in this place that made him somewhat uncomfortable. The fact that Weisse's words forced him to remember again and again:

He didn't deserve to be there.

He shouldn't have won that duel.

He shouldn't have needed charity from some weird lady in order to pass. He should have been able to pass with his own abilities alone.

But he didn't. He would never get the chance to retake the entrance exam. He would never get the chance to wash away the shame Weisse caused him.

'But now that I'm in, I'm here to say.' He thought to himself as he put his jacket back on. All he could do was better himself so he could someday overcome his shame if he could not erase it.

Shirou shoved his hands into his pockets, giving the horizon one last glance.

'I should probably turn in for the ni-.' Shirou was about to return to his room for bed when his thoughts were cut short by the sound of an opening and closing door. Shirou immediately walked over to the other side of the building, watching as the door next to his opened, Shirou once again seeing the familiar duo of Jaden and Syrus. Shirou just stared blankly as the two started to move. 'Wonder what they're up to...'

Rather than do something cliche and spy-like and follow them from the shadows, Shirou decided to take the direct route.

"Hey! Jaden! Syrus! What are you two doing out so late?!" The two jumped, probably not noticing Shirou until that point.

Syrus looked like a terrified child who got caught by their parents with his hand in the cookie jar while Jaden seemed to show no stress whatsoever.

"Oh. Hey there, Shirou!" Jaden greeted so casually. "I'm just sneaking over to the Obelisk Blue Duel Field for a bit to duel this guy I met from Obelisk Blue!"

Shirou stared blankly. Jaden stared back.

"Well alright then. Have fun with it!" Shirou waved off the fact they were potentially breaking the rules. Shirou was no snitch. Besides, even if he did threaten to tell, he figured Jaden would probably just go anyway. That's the kind of person Shirou took him for. "Good luck!"

"Thanks!" With that, Jaden ran off with Syrus, the latter looking shocked and like he almost had a heart attack.

Shirou then returned to what he was doing before as if the interruption had not occurred. "So Jaden's facing a guy from the Blue Dorm..."

Shirou thought back to what that weirdo from earlier had said. The Obelisk Blue students supposedly consisted of elitist snobs, usually enrolling in Duel Academy only through superior connections rather than skill. But he also said that there were quite a few guys who knew a thing or two about dueling.

'And if our placement was based on a mix of results of the written and practical exams, then the skilled duelists must be absolute monsters, they very best...' Shirou thought to himself. Then he took "things" into consideration.

* * *

Shirou was running through the forest, trying to take a shortcut to catch up to Jaden and Syrus.

"Why didn't I think of this earlier?!" Shirou started berating himself. He felt so stupid for just letting the opportunity slip away as he did. But no. He was caught up in his own personal drama to see the possibility.

The possibility to see an Obelisk Blue duel.

Shirou knew he was more behind than he'd care to admit, but if this was one of the strong Obelisk Blues, then he would be able to properly determine the actual size of the gap between him and those standing at the top. Was he the weakest of the weak, average, or on par with the top dogs?

Even if it was the former two, Shirou at least figured he would be able to learn enough to improve himself.

This was his line of thinking.

And that's why he was running to catch up with his two new friends.

He had a few close calls, almost tripping over tree roots and various other obstructions, but Shirou managed to avoid falling flat on his face. He was strong physically, but only average in terms of agility. He was as graceful as a one-legged flamingo to put it bluntly. It didn't help that it was pitch-black outside or that he had forgotten a flashlight and even his PDA.

He got hit in the face by stray tree branches only far too often.

"Maybe I should have just taken the normal path..." He groaned to himself, rubbing his nose, trying to relieve the recent "damage" inflicted on him by the cursed, wicked trees that seemed to relish in impeding his path.

But no. Shirou continued walking the path he had taken in his ill-advised attempted shortcut. After several minutes, he managed to avoid getting beaten or hit by nature long enough to make it to a large clearing in the middle of the forest, a field of grass surrounded almost in a perfect circle by trees.

"Let's see...which direction do I take from here?" He asked to himself. There was not a single recognizable land mark and it was only now that Shirou considered the possibility that he MAY have gotten himself lost. He placed his hands on his hips. He hoped he would make it in time for the duel. He also secretly hoped for company so he wouldn't have to keep talking to himself like a creepy old man who lives a very lonely life. "What was-"

And that was when the leaves of the nearby brush began to rustle vigorously, immediately drawing Shirou's attention.

"Who's there?!" Shirou called out. He took a stance, bringing out his Duel Disk as if it were some type of weapon. Of course it was impossible to actually hurt someone win Duel Monsters, but getting smacked in the face with a Duel Disk would definitely give a guy a headache.

The rustling became louder and louder and some of bushes parted, giving Shirou a peek at the pair of sharp, beast-like eyes lurking behind.

"Come out now before I kick your butt!" But Shirou's voice wavered somewhat. It was midnight and very dark outside and he was in the middle of the forest alone on an island in he middle of the ocean. Can someone say "cliche horror movie moment"? 'In a school with this many students...who knows what kind of whack jobs live or work here...'

The rustling became even louder and a dark silhouette became visible to Shirou in the darkness. Its short and clearly inhuman shape made Shirou's heart stop cold.

"N-No way! I-It can't be!" For a brief moment, he thought his worst, most impossible fear had manifested before his eyes. His mind went through thousands of possible scenarios, but the one he feared most seemed possible. "H-Hey! Stay b-back!" But the shadow kept moving closer, approaching Shirou with each passing second. Fearful, Shirou kept backing away, his body refusing to obey his mind's order to run. Just saying the name of it terrified him. "G-G-G-Ghooooost!"

Oohh oooh AAHHHH eee eeeeeeeeeeee!

The shadowy silhouette suddenly leaped high into the air, launching itself at Shirou.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" To anyone who ever asked, Shirou would deny the fact that he had indeed been screaming like a little girl.

He desperately tried reaching into his pocket for something, anything to use as a weapon (for what little good it would do), pulling out a random object. However, he reacted too slowly. He let out a huge grunt of paint as the shadow tackled him to the ground, causing him further pain by landing on his chest. The object in his hand was knocked away and sent skidding several feet away from his hands.

Eeeee aah aah!

Shirou blinked several times, trying to process two things:

1) The "ghost" had made physical contact with him despite the fact that ghosts were generally supposed to be intangible.

2) The "ghost" sounded more like an animal than a ghost.

Shirou squinted his eyes, trying to see through the darkness. And that was when he truly discerned the shape of the shadowy figure. It was furry, had a tail, and made monkey-like noises.

Shirou was not a scholar, but even he knew that if it looked like a monkey, moved like a monkey, and acted like a monkey, then it was, most likely, a monkey.

Shirou had a monkey on his chest, staring right back at him with a curious look.

Chalk this up as one of the strangest moments in his entire life.

"Uh...hey there..." Shirou greeted, uncertain what else to say in this incredibly strange situation. The monkey cocked its head to the side, making more ape-like noises.

Shirou frowned. He wasn't entirely sure if the monkey could understand him. Monkeys were supposed to be smarter than some animals, but it was unlikely they fully understood human language. He could try to wrestle and beat up the monkey, but he wasn't quite sure he wanted to commit what was most likely considered animal cruelty.

Best to go the peaceful route.

Shirou put on the biggest, cheesiest smile he could manage.

"Hey there, little buddy~" Shirou greeted in a disgustingly cheerful tone so as to not disturb the primate. "Would you mind maybe getting offa me~?"

The monkey retained the same confused expression as before, but seemed to quickly lose interest, quickly moving off of Shirou's chest, walking on all four limbs. For a moment, Shirou felt hope that the monkey had understood him, but then he saw what had taken its interest.

Shirou quickly sat up, once again trying to refrain from disturbing the monkey. "Oh no no no, little buddy! Not that. Don't touch that please." But the monkey seemed totally entranced by the set of keys laying motionless on the ground in front of it. The monkey bounded over to it, eyeing the "mysterious object" with an odd curiosity. It lifted the keys, causing Shirou's heart to freeze. He exhaled when the monkey let the keys drop to the ground.

Aaah eeee aaaah!

The monkey lifted the keys off the ground again, cocking its head to the side before it dropped the keys on the ground again.

Shirou crouched down, slowly edging towards the monkey who was too focused on the keys in front of it, trying to refrain from losing the only key he had to his room. Just the thought of being forced to sleep outside his own door for the entire night did not sound appealing to him.

"Come on, litte fella...Just hand the keys over to me..." The monkey picked up the keys again, just now turning to Shirou, looking incredibly shocked at his appearance. The monkey cradled the keys in its hands, slowly stepping away, eyeing Shirou warily. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. Just...gimme the keys..." Shirou stepped forward. The monkey stepped back. "No no-wait. I just-"

And THAT was when the monkey turned on its heels and burst into a fast four-limbed sprint in the direction away from Shirou.

"Wait! Wait wait wait!" Shirou called after it, trying to grab it. But the monkey was too fast and was already out of sight by the time Shirou had fully extended his arm. "Hold on! Come back here!" Shirou broke out into a sprint after the monkey, throwing all caution to the wind along with his fear of getting lost. He COULD NOT lose those keys, no matter what!

"GET BACK HERE, YOU STUPID APE!"

* * *

Shirou didn't know how long he had been running for. He had only been focused on following after the monkey, hoping he could outlast it in terms of stamina. If he could keep going until the monkey got tired, he could leap after it, beat it up, and take his keys back, animal-protection laws be damned. He almost had a heart attack every single time the monkey left his sight. But after a good...amount of time...whatever amount of he had been outside for.

But after a while, Shirou couldn't keep it up anymore. As it turned out, he was not physically superior to a monkey...

He was not entirely sure how to interpret that.

He had followed the monkey over this huge iron (maybe steel?) fence, but that was when he lost sight of it. That was when he hunched over, trying to keep from falling over as he panted. His breaths were heavy and painful, his ribs practically crushing his lungs.

"It's decided. I...hate...that...MONKEEEEEEY!" After that outburst, he practically fell to his knees. His lungs burned and his throat was dry as a desert.

He tried looking around, but failed to find a single trace of the mammal who stole his keys. Now he was left with only two options: The obvious "Sleep outside" option or spending all night searching for a monkey with minimal chances of success...None of these options were very appealing. This was like one of the worst choice-selection screen in a visual novel...

Shirou's legs eventually gave out and he fell to the ground on his butt, still panting before he laid back onto the ground.

"...God, I wish I could get a drink of water...any water would be nice..." And that was when, in the incredibly silent night, he heard that sound. The sound of flowing water. Groaning, Shirou managed to sit back up, staring blankly in the direction in front of him. Sitting only a good twelve feet away from him was a giant, crystal clear lake. Shirou stared at the lake. Then he turned his head towards the sky. "OK, now I want to meet the King of Games, Yugi Muto; infinite money to spend on Duel Monster cards; to defeat Makoto in a duel; and, above all else...to find a girlfriend. That would be nice."

In hindsight, maybe he was asking for a bit too much. So of course the sky's response would be to say nothing.

'Mom DID say that greedy boys get nothing.' Shirou noted to himself, snickering at his own little joke. Then he remembered it was just him. He hung his head. '...I'm so lonely...'

But not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Shirou got back to his feet, walking over to the lake and kneeling next to it. He cupped his hands in front of him, sinking them into the lake to gather some of the water in his hands, bringing it up to his mouth, taking a long sip from his hands until they were once again empty. He repeated this again and again, rather parched from chasing after the monkey for who-knows-how-long.

'Stupid Monkey.'

Shirou continued to drink and drink until he almost choked, coughing up some of the water he had accidentally inhaled. He rubbed his throat, trying to soothe it.

"Come to think of it...where am I?" It was so dark out and Shirou honestly had no idea in which direction he was heading. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure why he locked his door in the first place. Really, who was going to break in and steal all of the possessions he DOESN'T HAVE? And why did it not occur to him to bring a flashlight or SOMETHING rather than haphazardly wandering off into the woods like a complete dunce? It's like a bad story with a huge plot hole!

And that was when Shirou took notice of the massive blue-roofed building across the lake. Then he remembered the well-constructed fence he had to cross over while chasing the monkey. Slifer Red Dorm didn't anything anywhere near that level of precaution to keep out intruders nor would it be so well-constructed. Ra Yellows had better stuff, but even they don't have something of this magnitude.

And that only left the conclusion that Shirou was, in fact, staring at the Obelisk Blue Dorm.

"Well...damn..." That was all Shirou could say. This was forbidden territory for someone like him. Not only was he out after dark, but also he was trespassing on the property of the Elitist Snob Dorm (AKA Obelisk Blue Dorm as mentioned before). As much as it annoyed him, if these guys were as rich as that weirdo from before had said, they could probably buy AND sell him.

Shirou nodded to himself. 'Yeah. It's amazing I haven't been spotted yet. It's probably best to skedaddle before I-'

Two bright lights suddenly shone in his face, temporarily blinding him. Shirou raised his arm, trying to shield his eyes from the bright, searing light.

"Hey you!"

"Stop right there!"

"Just haaaaad to jinx it." Shirou muttered to himself, resigned to the fact that he would have to face the music. Hopefully he'd only get a 1st Strike or put on cafeteria duty or something.

"Don't even try to run!"

'I'm not.' Shirou said mentally to himself, deadpan. Then his eyes widened. 'Wait a second...!' He immediately looked up at his two pursuers, finally recognizing that their voices were neither deep nor masculine in any way like many of the guys he had met earlier today.

The two lights finally pointed away from his face, the two pursuers close enough that they could see Shirou without the flashlights. Likewise, Shirou was finally able to get a good look at their appearances. And what he saw truly shocked him.

Both of them were around his age. The one on the left had mid-length dark-red hair and dark-green eyes, wearing a white top with blue trimming, a blue miniskirt, and royal blue boots. The one on the right wore the same outfit, but her hair was black and tied back. The most notable trait about them was their soft-looking skin or perhaps the fact that they had feminine curves.

They were both girls. The first two girls Shirou had met since first coming to this island.

Shirou knew he had to think through his first words to them very carefully.

'STRIIIIIIIIIIKE~!' A shame, however, there wasn't anything going through his head that he could say to them in a sensible sentence that made a bit of sense.

"Jeez, you really ARE a pervert!" The girl on the left spat at Shirou, noticing his expression while looking at him as if he had just evolved from a cockroach.

It was those words that finally snapped Shirou out of his trance. He clenched his fists.

"Hey now! I'm not a pervert!" Shirou pointed at the girl who just spoke. "I'm a little rough around the edges, even I admit, but I am not-I mean it-NOT a pervert!"

"Oh yeah? Well let's see what Ms. Fontaine has to say about that!" The black-haired girl threatened. "Or would you rather we take this matter directly to Chancellor Sheppard? Either way, you'll probably get expelled!"

Shirou blinked several times. "Why are you two so serious about this? So what if I ended up trespassing a little? It's no big deal. I honestly figured you Obelisk Blues would just send out some of the guys to try to beat me up or something, but straight to expulsion threats? Just for trespassing?!"

"Oh you were trespassing alright," The red-head confirmed, "trespassing onto the Obelisk Girls' Dorm property!"

"Yeah, well I-" Yet again, Shirou was a little slow on the uptake. "...Girls' Dorm...?" He said it to himself as if he had never heard such a phrase before, a completely alien phrase. "You mean...the girls AREN'T housed in the same building as the guys...?"

"Tch!" The red-head, clicked her tongue scoffing at Shirou's question. "Of course not. If they housed girls and boys in the same building, then all of us girls would have to spend our entire time spent at Duel Academy dealing with dirty panty thieves and perverts like you!"

"Now hold on!" Now Shirou was getting seriously angry. "I am NOT a panty thief and I'm most certainly not some damned pervert!" He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He crossed his arms, trying to speak calmly to the girls. "Look, this is all some big misunderstanding-"

"I'm sure it is, pervert." The red-haired girl spoke so sharply that Shirou could swear he felt an arrow stab through his chest. He took another breath, letting that one slide.

"It is." Shirou reiterated. "You see, I was going to go see some friends of mine-"

"Oh, so there are other perverts like you running around here?" That was all the two seemed to be getting out of Shirou's words. Shirou face-faulted in response, shocked by how strongly these two immediately hated him.

"Would you please let me finish?!" Shirou hissed. "I was walking through the woods, got knocked down by a monkey, had keys stolen by said monkey, and was trying to find said monkey to reclaim my keys so I didn't have to spend all night sleeping outside." He said this all in one go to prevent himself from being further interrupted by the girls.

The two girls stared doubtfully at Shirou. "So to sum it up: It's the monkey's fault?" The black-haired girl asked. "Yes, that's a completely believable story." Her sarcasm was not lost on Shirou.

"Well...when you say it like that, you make it sound like absolute BS."

"It sounds like absolute BS because IT IS!" The red-haired girl stomped over to Shirou and grabbed him by the shoulder, trying to drag him away (Shirou only going along slightly because he didn't want to make her feel bad upon realizing the TRUE difference in physical strength between them). "And you're coming with US right now!"

"Yeeeaaa-no." Shirou immediately snatched his arm back from her. He waved them off. "I have no intention of doing anything like that. I told you my story. Not my fault if you two are such unreasonable-"

[HEY!]

Their furious screaming made Shirou jump back. They looked extremely angry and insulted.

"What?!" Shirou raised an eyebrow. "I was gonna say "Not my fault if you two are such unreasonable, skeptical people"."

They stared blankly.

[Oh.]

"What did you think I was gonna say?"

.

.

.

There was a brief silence after that, the only sound heard being the crickets hiding from sight, playing their melodious chirping-like music from the shadows. The red-head opened her mouth to try to speak, but then closed it, apparently thinking better of it.

Of course the silence didn't last long.

"It doesn't matter!" The red-head declared. "You're trespassing and, even if you manage to escape us, we can just go straight to the Chancellor and get you kicked out, so don't even try it, pervert!"

Shirou groaned, rubbing his temples. "For the last time: I'm NOT a pervert!" His expression was clearly troubled.

'How did I get myself into this mess?' He wondered to himself. 'More importantly, how do I get out of it...?'

His initial thought was just to let it go and face whatever consequences the Chancellor had in store for him. Worst-case-scenario: Shirou would get expelled...

He couldn't let that happen.

Maybe if he had been in the same mindset as before his entrance exam, he wouldn't have cared either way. But now that he was here, on this island, in this school, he realized not only how much he had to learn, but how hard his sister and mother had worked to get him the chance to come here. Shirou got the feeling that Makoto had been low-balling how much it had actually cost to get him admitted.

And he still had so much to learn about dueling.

Not to mention the thought of his mother's expression if she were to hear that Shirou got expelled after "breaking into the girls' dorm"...Oh the ashamed expression would rip his heart apart.

"...I think he's broken, Jasmine." The black-haired girl noted. "He's just been standing there with that same expression for seven minutes."

"Just leave him, Mindy. We can report him in the morning." The other girl, apparently named Jasmine, responded, sighing. "For now, let's try to see where Alexis ran off to. With perverts like this guy running about, I'm actually kind of worried."

The two girls turned to leave, finally jarring Shirou out of his thoughtful trance.

"W-W-Waaaaiiiit!" He burst into a sprint, running out in front of them, stretching out his arms to stop them.

"What do you want, Slifer?"

"Out of the way!"

"Look, I know you don't believe me," Shirou said, knowing full well their feelings of distrust, "but at the very least, please give me the chance to fight for my freedom." Then, much to their surprise, Shirou got on his knees. Shirou had his pride, but if the alternative was having his mother ashamed of him, it was the best choice. "If you have any mercy, just give me this one chance."

Mindy and Jasmine looked to one another, a look of contemplation mixed in with their incredible dislike towards Shirou. True, they disliked Slifers and disliked perverts even more, but, while they disliked Shirou, they were not cold-hearted.

"What did you have in mind?" Jasmine asked. "We're not gonna just let you go, so don't bother asking."

Shirou shook his head. "No. I'm not asking for that. All I ask is a sort of "wager", a high-stakes game."

"What kind of "wager"?"

Shirou eyed their arms, noticing that they, too, carried Duel Disks on their arms. Shirou held up one finger.

"One duel. Winner-takes-all." Shirou explained. "If you win, I'll gladly go with you to turn myself and never return to Duel Academy ever again for so long as I live. If I win, then you let me go for now and, if you ever see me around here again, you can go ahead and have me expelled."

The two mulled over his request. On paper, it sounded like a fair challenge. He was only a Slifer Red, so his skills probably weren't much. It was also a sure sign of desperation if he was resorting to this sort of challenge in order to save his own skin. But still...

"Just one of us...?" Mindy wondered, concerned. She didn't want to take any chances of this Slifer escaping punishment.

"Both of you if you so desire. I'll take on both of you acting as a team, each duelist starts with 4000 Life Points, and the first two of us to go cannot attack on our first turns so everyone can have a chance to build up their defenses." Shirou extended his hand, his expression more under control than it was before. He showed no deception. "Do we have a deal?"

For a brief moment, Shirou feared they would reject and just turn him in anyway. They both looked at one another, apparently having some sort of mental conversation. Then they both smiled, nodding to one another. They raised their Duel Disks, turning to Shirou.

"Alright then, Slifer, you have a deal!" Mindy answered.

"You're going down, Slifer Slacker!" Her partner agreed with great enthusiasm. Shirou withdrew his hand, heaving a sigh of relief.

'At least now it's not all hopeless.' Shirou thought to himself.

"Stop looking so hopeful, you! We'll just beat you before turning you in!"

"Yeah! You've just exchanged one punishment for an even harsher one!"

[You don't stand a chance!]

Shirou smirked confidently. "We'll see about that once we get this show on the road! My name's Shirou! Shirou Fujimura! But enough with introductions. Let's go!"

All three of them activated their Duel Disks.

[Duel!]

 **Shirou Vs. Jasmine & Mindy**

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Jasmine: 4000 LP**

 **Mindy: 4000 LP**

All three of them drew five cards.

"Ladies first." Shirou motioned for them to go on, neither taunting nor encouraging them.

Jasmine only glared, completely disregarding Shirou's politeness. "Fine then. You don't mind if I go first, Mindy?" Without waiting for a response, she drew a card, adding it to her hand. "First off, I activate the spell card, Restructer Revolution!" A card appeared on the field, revealing a sword-wielding man on a horse inspiring other sword-wielders to raise arms. "This spell card allows me to deal 200 points of damage for every card in your hand. With five cards in your hand, that makes a total of 1000!"

A fireball shot out of the card, hitting Shirou with enough force to make him stumble.

"Gaah!"

 **Shirou: 3000 LP**

 **Jasmine: 4000 LP**

 **Mindy: 4000 LP**

"Then I summon Aqua Madoor in defense mode!" A blue-haired being wearing a green outfit and a white mask with red eyes appeared on the field, his arms crossed over his chest (4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 2000). "And now I lay one card face-down." A reverse-card appeared on the field. "Your move, pervert!"

Shirou sighed. "We could keep going back and forth like this, but I doubt me saying I'm not a pervert would change your minds. Draw!" Shirou added a card to his hand. "And I'm summoning Dodger Dragon to the field." A green, eastern-styled dragon appeared on the field, possessing insect-like limbs and a long tail ending in a crescent-shaped blade (4/ATK: 1900/DEF: 1200). "And his special effect is neat. You see, the turn he's summoned, his summon can't be negated and you two can't activate any counters for the rest of this turn."

"Tch!" Jasmine clicked her tongue. "So what? You still can't attack on your first turn AND my Aqua Madoor still has more DEF points than your monster's ATK points.

Then Shirou placed another card on the field. "I know, but the main reason he's here is so I can activate this: Dragon's Gunfire!" A spell card depicting a dragon unleashing a fireball appeared on the field. "Thanks to this baby, since I have a Dragon-type monster on the field, I can inflict 800 points of damage on your life points!" Shirou pointed in their direction.

Jasmine tensed when she realized Shirou wasn't pointing at her. "Mindy!" The black-haired girl's eyes went wide with realization.

"Go on, Dodger Dragon! Unleash some of that dragon rage!" Dodger Dragon pulled back its head before spitting out a huge blast of flames in Mindy's direction, hitting her directly.

"Kyaaaah!" She screamed as she was engulfed by the dragon's flames.

 **Shirou: 3000 LP**

 **Jasmine: 4000 LP**

 **Mindy: 3200 LP**

"That was cheap!" Mindy whined...Yes. She WHINED that Shirou attacked her...his opponent...in a duel...where she's trying to get him expelled.

"Well, I figured I should repay your teammate's kindness, starting by paying you the interest." Shirou merely shrugged. "Anyway, I think that's all for now. Your chance for payback."

Both girls eyed him with even greater dislike, but Shirou had learned to tune them out by that point, so he was completely indifferent.

"My move! Draw!" Mindy added a card to her hand. Then she smiled. "Alright then! Now I summon Mokey Mokey to the field!" A small square-like, marshmallow-looking creature with tiny angel wings and a question mark on its head appeared (1/ATK: 300/DEF: 100).

"Awwww~! He's adorable~!" Jasmine squealed, immediately hypnotized by the adorableness of the level 1 monster.

Mindy smiled brightly, something Shirou did not expect in this situation. "Yeah! I got him in a card pack just a few days ago and I've just been dying to use him!"

"Uuuuhhhh..." Shirou stared, completely deadpan. "Well, it really is cute and all, but...I mean, did you mean to play him in defense mode or something...? He's only level 1 and only has 300 ATK points..." He cringed when their gazes immediately turned back on him.

"Mind your own business, perv!" Mindy commanded. "Anyway, who said that was all there was to my turn? Now I'm activating the spell card, Triangle Power!" A spell card appeared on the field depicting a humanoid lizard creature with several triangles around it. "Thanks to this spell card, all level 1 monsters on my side of the field gain 2000 ATK and DEF points until the end of my turn!"

"Say what now?"

The Mokey Mokey on the field inhaled deeply, bloating to a much larger size while retaining its cute shape (1/ATK: 2300/DEF: 2100).

"And you know what that means?" Mindy asked rhetorically. "My Mokey Mokey is now more than strong enough to take out your Dodger Dragon! Go ahead, my adorable prince! Lay the smackdown on the pervert's dragon!" The marshmallow creature lunged forward, slamming its entire body down on Dodger Dragon. The dragon struggled for several moments, but was eventually crushed underneath the angelic marshmallow's immense weight.

The force of the attack sent a powerful gust that blew harshly against Shirou, causing him to shield his face with his arms.

 **Shirou: 2600 LP**

 **Jasmine: 4000 LP**

 **Mindy: 3200 LP**

"And now I end my turn with two face-downs!" Two reverse-cards appeared on Mindy's field. And it was at that point that her Mokey Mokey started to grow larger and larger. For a brief moment, Shirou feared it was somehow growing stronger due to the spell's effect.

And that was when it exploded into a million pieces.

Shirou blinked. "W-What?"

Mindy sighed. "It's a side effect of Triangle Power. Unfortunately, my monster is destroyed at the end of my turn. Such a shame...it was so cute." She pouted cutely, more annoyed at the fact her monster was gone because of its cuteness rather than the fact she had just been left defenseless.

"Mindy, you might wanna focus more on the duel rather than on cute things." Her partner advised, remaining dead-serious. "It's his turn now and you just left yourself defenseless..."

"Wait! What?!" The black-haired girl looked so shocked that Shirou almost believed it was genuine. Almost. One of the first rules of dueling his Dad had taught him was never believe anything until you see it for yourself, never to take your opponent's reactions at face-value.

"I don't know about that, but it's my move!" Shirou drew a card. "And now I activate Draconnection! This allows me to reveal one Dragon-type monster in my hand, like my Blizzard Dragon here, and add one Dragon-type monster from my deck with the same level to my hand and then shuffle the one I revealed into my deck!" Shirou pulled his deck out and scanned through its contents. "So I'm drawing out this one!" Shirou took out a card, shuffling his Blizzard Dragon back into his deck. "And now I'm gonna summon out Silent Swordsman LV3 to the field."

A child-like swordsman carrying a large sword and wearing a helmet and black coat appeared on the field (3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000).

"And while he may not be strong enough to take out Aqua Madoor," Shirou admitted, gesturing towards Jasmine, "he's more than strong enough to take a chunk out of your friend's Life Points! Go ahead, Silent Swordsman! Attack!" The small swordsman charged towards Mindy, raising his giant sword to strike.

"Not so fast!" One of Mindy's reverse-card flipped face-up. "I activate the trap card, Threatening Roar!" An image of a monster scaring another monster into submission with a loud screech showed on the card. "Thanks to this card, you can't attack this turn. So sorry, but not sorry!" A powerful shockwave emitted from the card, sending Silent Swordsman flying back to his starting position.

Shirou gritted his teeth, but said nothing. His hunch had been right. Nobody would be so stupid as to leave themselves totally defenseless unless they had a plan.

"Fine then. I end my turn with a face-down of my own." A reverse-card appeared on the field.

"I draw!" Jasmine drew a card. "Next I switch my Aqua Madoor to attack mode!" The masked man stood upright, poised to strike. "I already know what Silent Swordsman's ability is, so I'm not taking any chances! Aqua Madoor, take him out! Aqua Wave!"

The masked man clasped his hands together, launching it at Shirou in a powerful geyser-like wave.

Shirou smirked. "That's good...for ME that is! I activate the trap card, Mirror Force!" Shirou's face-down flipped face-up. "And if you know Silent Swordsman's ability, then I'm positive you know what Mirror Force does!"

The red-head growled. "Yeah. I know. All attack-position monsters on my side of the field get blown away."

Aqua Madoor's attack suddenly hit an unseen barrier, being send flying right back at him, destroying him.

"Fine then! I summon Shining Angel in defense mode!" A male angel with four golden wings appeared on the field, using his wings as a sort of shield (4/ATK: 1400/DEF: 800). "And I end my turn!"

Shirou grinned. "That it? At this rate, I'll win this duel no problem!" Shirou drew another card.

Mindy glared at him. "Don't get so confident! So what if you managed to keep Silent Swordsman on the field?"

"So what? So THIS. I activate Silent Swordsman's special ability!" The swordsman on the field began glowing a brilliant light. "During my standby phase, by sending him to the graveyard, I can bring out an even stronger monster! So come on out, Silent Swordman LV5!" An older, even taller version of Silent Swordsman appeared, carrying an even larger sword (5/ATK: 2300/DEF: 1000).

"Aaaah! Why did I have to ask "So what"?!" Mindy screamed, cradling her face in her hands while shaking her head, as if trying to deny the power of Shirou's monster.

"He would've come out regardless, so no need to beat yourself up." Shirou joked. "And that's not all, now I'm gonna summon the monster I added to my hand last turn, Alexandrite Dragon!" A gem-covered dragon appeared on the field, standing on two legs (4/ATK: 2000/DEF: 100).

Shirou eyed both of their fields, most particularly Mindy's face-down. 'She still probably has something up her sleeve...so it'd be best to level their attack power by taking out that angel...'

The two girls appeared on-edge, ready to counter anything Shirou threw at them.

"And now I'm gonna kick this battle phase off by attacking your Shining Angel with my Alexandrite Dragon! Go, Gem-Flash Cannon!" Alexandrite Dragon cocked its head back, building up a powerful light in its mouth before unleashing a sharp beam of light at the angelic monster, blasting it to smithereens.

"You just triggered Shining Angel's special ability! Now I can summon one Light monster with 1500 or less ATK points onto the field in attack mode!" Another angelic man appeared on the field, his wings outstretched (4/ATK: 1400/DEF: 800).

"Fine then! I'll just take'em out again with my Silent Swordsman!" The swordsman lunged forward, bisecting the newest angel with his massive sword, destroying it. "And now you take the difference between their ATK points as damage!" Shirou waited for something to happen...some sort of field effect or explosive damage or some kind of exaggerated response from Jasmine due to losing Life Points. But there was nothing. "Uuuhhh...Is your Duel Disk defective or something?"

"Nope!" Jasmine replied cheerfully. "I just activated my trap card, Hallowed Life Barrier! By discarding 1 card from my hand, I can make all damage I take this turn 0! So no activating Silent Swordsman's ability since you didn't inflict any damage this turn! And since Shining Angel was destroyed, I can summon another monster! So I'm summoning White Magical Hat!" A caped man wearing a white top hat appeared onto the field (3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 700). "And since you used all of your attacks this turn, my Life Points are safe!"

"Fine then, I'm gonna end my turn then." Shirou eyed his hand, disappointed. "Alright then, your move, Mindy."

"I don't need the notification, Slifer Pervert!" She declared, coining a new demeaning nickname for Shirou. She drew a card. "Next I activate the spell card, Enchanting Fitting Room!" A spell card depicting a creature standing behind a red curtain appeared. "By paying 800 Life Points, I can pick up to four cards from the top of my deck, and if any of them are level 3 or lower Normal Monsters, I can summon them to the field!"

 **Shirou: 2600 LP**

 **Jasmine: 4000 LP**

 **Mindy: 2400 LP**

Mindy then picked up four cards from the top of her deck. She looked pleased. That meant this was probably NOT going to be good for Shirou.

"Well, as luck would have it, I have three Normal Monsters who fit the description!" The shining lights rose from her deck floating for several inches and landing on the field. "So come on out, Soldier of Landstar, Baby Dragon, and Torike, all in defense mode!" A tiny swordsman (3/ATK: 500/DEF: 1200), a small, adorable dragon (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 700), and an odd horned green creature (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 600) appeared on the field. "And now since I don't have the card I need to take out your monsters, I end my turn!"

"My turn! Draw!" Shirou drew another card. He frowned. It was Tyrant Dragon. 'I have more than enough ATK power to take down all of their monsters, but it's the number that worries me. Or what if it's a trick and they WANT me to summon out a strong monster to reduce the targets to 1...No. It's best to keep Silent Swordsman and Alexandrite Dragon out for the time being.'

"Hey!" Mindy called out. "Are you going to make your move or just stand there?! If you aren't gonna move, we could go ahead and get to turning you in!"

"No chance!" Shirou bravely proclaimed. "Silent Swordsman, take out Jasmine's White Magical Hat! Silent Sword Strike!" Shirou's monster leaped into the air with incredibly high agility, swinging his sword in a downward arc on Jasmine's monster, causing it to be destroyed.

 **Shirou: 2600 LP**

 **Jasmine: 2700 LP**

 **Mindy: 2400 LP**

"Alright! Finally, some damage!" For a while, Shirou was worried that he would never be able to take out Jasmine. He didn't want to save all of his cards nor did he want to expend them taking out Mindy first. If possible, he wanted to take them out around the same time to avoid unnecessary lost of cards and monster.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Slifer! It's just a minor setback!"

"Whatever. I end my turn." Shirou smirked. "And during the end phase of the turn Silent Swordsman LV5 inflicts damage, I can send him to the grave!" Silent Swordsman LV5 vanished in a glowing light, replaced by an even more brilliant light. "So now I can bring out Silent Swordsman LV 7!" An even more powerful version of Silent Swordsman appeared, carrying an even larger sword but wielding it with much more efficiency.

Mindy smirked. "Not so fast! I activate the trap card, Bottomless Trap Hole!" A card depicting a screaming monster being dragged into a glowing red void. Mindy shivered. "This card is scary-looking, but its effect is pretty neat! When my opponent summons a monster with more than 1500 ATK points, they're immediately destroyed!"

"No way!" Shirou's eyes widened as a red void opened beneath the newly-summoned Silent Swordsman, swallowing him completely.

"I wanted to wait til he came out to his highest level before using this card." Mindy explained. "It would have been more of a hassle to deal with your monster at level 7 than at level 5, so I waited til now! And since he was destroyed by Bottomless Trap Hole, he's removed from play as well!"

"Fine then...Your turn."

"Draw!" Mindy drew a card. "I'm going to lay one monster face-down for now and end my turn." A face-down monster in defense position appeared.

Shirou raised an eyebrow. "Done already? Fine then! Draw!" Shirou drew a card. "Next I'm summoning out Luster Dragon in attack mode!" A sapphire-covered dragon with rather thin wings rose to the field (4/ATK: 1900/DEF: 1600). "Now I'm gonna attack you directly Jasmine! Go right ahead, Alexandrite Dragon! Gem-Flash Cannon!"

Alexandrite Dragon pulled its head back, unleashing a powerful beam of energy in Jasmine's direction.

"I don't think so! I activate Negate Attack to protect my partner!" Mindy's other face-down flipped face-up, Alexandrite Dragon's attack being blocked by an invisible barrier.. Mindy smiled at her partner. "Don't worry! As long as I have my monsters and cards, I'll be more than willing to help you out!"

"Thanks!" Jasmine smiled back.

Shirou just stared.

"Wow. That was oddly touching." His words were genuine, but awkward. Both girls glared at him. "Anyway, I guess I have no choice but to end my turn now that I can't attack anymore."

"Draw!" Jasmine drew a card. "I summon Obnoxious Celtic Guardian in defense mode!" A knight in green armor appeared on the field, kneeling with his sword raised (4/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1200). "I end my turn."

"Alright then." Shirou drew his card. "And now I'm gonna attack your Obnoxious Celtic Guardian with my Luster Dragon! Go! Sapphire Spark!" Luster Dragon unleash a powerful blast of blue flames at the defense position monster, creating a powerful explosion. "And now, Alexandrite Dragon, atta-!" That was when Shirou froze. The smoke cleared, but there wasn't any kind of noise or protest from Jasmine's monster.

It was still there! In defense mode! Acting as if nothing had happened!

"What just happened!?"

"It's Obnoxious Celtic Guardian's special ability." Jasmine stated, gesturing to her monster. "When battling a monster with 1900 or more ATK points, he can't be destroyed by battle. So my Life Points are safe, at least for now."

"Maybe your monster is safe, but your friend's monsters are a completely different story!" Shirou gestured towards the face-down monster on Mindy's field. "Go on, Alexandrite Dragon! Take out her face-down! Gem-Flash Cannon!" Alexandrite Dragon unleash a powerful beam of light that destroyed the face-down monster. Prior to its destruction, Shirou saw the image of some sort of animal.

"Joke's on you, Slifer! The monster you just attacked was Des Koala!" Once again, the visage of a larger-than-normal koala appeared on the field. "When he's flipped over, you get hit with 400 points of damage for every card in your hand! Since you have three cards in your hand, you're about to lose 1200!"

"Huh?" Shirou stared as the image of Des Koala casually crawled over to him, stopping right in front of him. He stared at it. It stared back. "So, what is it-" And that was when the koala creature smacked Shirou right across the face with its large arm, sending Shirou rolling across the ground from the perceived force of the blow.

 **Shirou: 1400 LP**

 **Jasmine: 2700 LP**

 **Mindy: 2400 LP**

After a few seconds, he scraped himself off the ground, his eyes wide. "DID I JUST GET BITCH-SLAPPED BY A KOALA?!"

"Yes. Yes you did."

Mindy seemed incredibly happy about that fact.

Shirou growled, desperately resisting the urge to retort. "I end my turn with a face-down!" A reverse-card appeared on Shirou's field.

"My turn! Draw" Shirou felt unpleasant chills go down his spine when he saw the confident smirk on Jasmine's face. "And it looks like I drew the card that will kick off what is only the start of your defeat!"

'Why do I not like the sound of this...?' Shirou groaned mentally, finally beginning to sweat.

"I activate the ritual spell, Black Magic Ritual!"

"Ritual...spell...?" Shirou stared blankly, cocking his head to the side.

"Don't play dumb! Everyone knows what a ritual spell is!" Mindy chimed in, smiling confidently.

"I don't. I didn't even know there was such a thing as ritual spells til now." Shirou scratched his cheek, confused as to why the girls were staring at him with such stunned expression. Never once in all of the tournaments he had dueled in had he ever encountered something like a ritual spell. It had been all about fusions, various special summons, and tribute summons.

Jasmine rubbed her temples. "Geez! If you don't even know what a ritual spell is, you must be amongst the bottom of the barrel of Slifer Red." But her previous confident look returned. "Oh well. I guess there's no better time than to school you in ritual spells. For Black Magic Ritual, by sending monsters from my hand or field whose total levels equal 8 or higher to the graveyard," Jasmine released her Obnoxious Celtic Guardian and sent one card from her hand to the graveyard, "I can summon out an even more powerful monster! I call forth Magician of Black Chaos!"

A huge magic circle appeared on the ground in front of her, a huge, purplish flame sparking into existence in the center of it. What little light was left outside began to fade as the light began to grow, a figure clothed in black slowly rising from the center of the flame-covered circle. He possessed dark-blue skin and midnight-black hair, wielding a black scepter (8/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2600).

"N-No way! 2800 ATK points!?" It was the first monster of theirs whose ATK was greater than 1500, so it was natural to be shocked. Shirou had assumed their tactics revolved around effect damage, but it appears he had made a grievous error in his thinking.

"That's right! This handsome magician is the strongest monster in my deck, so you're in for it now, Slifer Pervert!" Jasmine looked so proud of herself. "He's as strong as even the Silent Swordsman LV7 that Mindy destroyed earlier! And now I'm using him to give you the beating you so deserve! Go! Take out Luster Dragon with Chaos Scepter Blast!" Magician of Black Chaos swung his scepter, pointing it at Luster Dragon before launching a black, electrical sphere at it, resulting in a powerful explosion that rocked the battlefield along with a shockwave that almost blew Shirou off his feet.

 **Shirou: 500 LP**

 **Jasmine: 2700 LP**

 **Mindy: 2400 LP**

"Tch! This is real bad..." Shirou said to himself, keeping his feet firmly planted on the ground.

"One more turn, Slifer Pervert!" Jasmine notified him. "On my next turn, one way or another, you're done for and then you're as good as expelled. I end my turn."

Shirou drew without making the announcement. 'She's right. With only one monster on the field, I don't have anything strong enough to take out her Magician of Black Chaos. I drew Pot of Greed, but Tyrant Dragon is the only monster I have strong enough to take out her monster...' He turned his direction to Mindy's field which held three monsters. 'But still, I can at least take out Mindy's monsters and try to knock her out of the running using my face-d-'

Then he hesitated. Once again, those words wormed their way into his mind.

 _"You played so recklessly and wastefully. You tried to make up for tactics with brute force and wishful thinking. You had no real counters or strategy."_

'In this case...that hag's even more right than Jasmine...' He carefully inspected all of the monsters on the field. 'All of the monsters in my hand require a tribute. If I go ahead and attack Mindy with Alexandrite Dragon, then Magician of Black Chaos will wipe me out.' Shirou eyed his monster on the field. 'And if I try switching Alexandrite Dragon to defense mode, even Mindy's pathetically weak monsters could take him out and take out my life points...It's a lose-lose situation. Nothing on my field or in my deck can give me the win I need right now...'

The cards in his hand weren't able to get him out of this mess. Pot of Greed, Lord of D., Tyrant Dragon, and Prime Material Dragon. Prime Material Dragon was too weak and Tyrant Dragon couldn't be brought out...it was hopeless.

"What's the matter? Throwing in the towel already, Slifer Pervert?" Jasmine taunted, knowing full-well the advantage she possessed.

"I..." Shirou looked at Pot of Greed. He bit his lower lip.

 _"As long as you have a single card in your deck, there will always be the possibility of changing the tides of a duel."_

Maybe-JUST maybe-there were two cards in his deck that could save him...only if he could draw them though. It was a small chance that he would draw both at once, but... "I'm gonna take that chance! I activate Pot of Greed! Now I get to draw two cards!" Shirou placed his hand on his deck, taking a deep breath. He mentally prayed to whatever divinity existed out there to let him draw the cards he needed to finish this. "One way or another...this will be the last turn!" He drew two cards. He didn't even look at them, but the corners of his mouth still curved into a smirk, as if he knew what the two cards were before he even looked at them.

"Huh? What's with that creepy look, pervert?!" Mindy demanded, seeming somewhat nervous and creeped out as Shirou added the two cards to his hand.

"The stage is set...Iiiiiiit's showtime!" Shirou took one monster from his hand and laid it on the field. "And to kick off this grand finale, I'm summoning out Lord of D. in attack mode!" A man dressed in armor made of dragon bones and wearing a blue mantle appeared on Shirou's side (4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1100).

[Huh?]

Both stared with confused expressions.

"Uh...News flash, loser: Your Lord of D. is nowhere near strong enough to defeat Magician of Black Chaos." Jasmine was sooooo "kind" to point out.

Shirou grinned. "Oh, I know. And that's why I now play the spell card, Flute of Summoning Dragon!" A spell card depicting a dragon-looking horn appeared on the field. "You see, this spell has a neat little ability: Since I have Lord of D. on my field, I can special summon up to two Dragon-type monsters from my hand!" Lord of D. gripped the horn manifested in his hands, inhaled, and gave one, long blow, releasing a loud hunting horn-like noise. "First, I'm summoning out Prime Material Dragon!" A gold-colored dragon with six wings appeared on the field, letting out a beast-like roar (6/ATK: 2400/DEF: 2000).

"Did you flunk out of math?!" The black-haired girl asked, seeming more insulted than anything. "Your Prime Material Dragon is still FAR from being strong enough to take out Magician of Black Chaos!"

Shirou smirked. "I know that, but he won't be standing alone! The second dragon I'm summoning out is an all-time favorite of mine!" Shirou raised his hand into the air, pointing upwards. "Take to the skies, Tyrant Dragon!"

A powerful, booming roar echoed throughout the night. All eyes were directed upwards as a massive, dark, leathery form quickly approaching the ground. Nobody had any time to react before the massive beast made impact, create an incredible crater in the ground. For a moment, its massive form was hidden by the leathery wings surrounding its body. But with a single, powerful beat, they extended, creating a powerful hurricane-force gust of wind (8/ATK: 2900/DEF: 2500).

[Say whaaaaaat?!]

Both girls screamed in shock at the sudden over-powered monster that Shirou had finally managed to summon out.

"And that's not all! Now I'm activating the spell card, Shrink!" A spell card depicting a shrunken monster appeared on the field. "And thanks to that, I can cut the ATK power of one monster on the field in half. So I'm gonna go with Magician of Black Chaos!"

A bolt of lightning shot out of the spell card, running a sort of electrical current through the struggling spellcaster. The spellcaster let out a cry of indignation as his body started to shrink further and further until he was half the size of Shirou.

"N-No way! My handsome Magician of Black Chaos has become so chibi!" Jasmine cried, like Mindy, only being concerned with her monster's appearance rather than the fact it was now far weaker than it was before.

"And that's not all. Now I'm gonna activate my face-down card: Dragon's Rage!" A trap card depicting a dragon busting through a stone wall flipped face-up. "And thanks to this card, whenever I attack a defense position monster with a Dragon-type monster on my side of the field, I get to inflict the difference between my monsters' ATK points and your monsters' DEF points!"

"Then that means-!"

"That's right!" Shirou interrupted Mindy. "Your defensive wall made up of monsters is toast! First up, Tyrant Dragon! Toast her Torike! Dragon Flame Blast!" Tyrant Dragon released a powerful stream of flames from its mouth, bathing the small, green creature on Mindy's field in the inferno before it was destroyed.

Mindy screamed in shock as she, too, felt the fury of Tyrant Dragon's attack.

 **Shirou: 500 LP**

 **Jasmine: 2700 LP**

 **Mindy: 100 LP**

"Aaaah! It's hot! Hot hot hot!" She squealed so much like a little girl that Shirou almost found it funny.

"Don't you worry, Jasmine. Tyrant Dragon hasn't forgotten about you." The red-head's eyes widened in shock. "You see, when Tyrant Dragon destroys a monster on my opponent's field and they still control another monster, he can declare a second attack. So I'm gonna use that ability of his to attack your Magician of Black Chaos. One more time, Tyrant Dragon! Dragon Flame Blast!" Just like before, Tyrant Dragon unleashed a powerful stream of flames. Only this time, it engulfed Jasmine's Magician of Black Chaos instead.

Jasmine, too, felt the sting of the attack to her Life Points once the flames had destroyed her only defense.

 **Shirou: 500 LP**

 **Jasmine: 1200 LP**

 **Mindy: 100 LP**

"And now this duel is as good as over! I have three monsters left to attack with and your defenses are as good as gone! Your turn, Lord of D.! Attack Jasmine directly!"

Jasmine backed away, shocked by how quickly that tides had turned. "Th-That's impossible! You're just a stupid Slifer!"

Lord of D. rushed forward hitting Jasmine with a single swing of his arm, causing her to scream from shock.

"And Alexandrite Dragon! Show Baby Dragon just who's top dog around here! Gem-Flash Cannon!" Alexandrite Dragon once again fired that destructive beam of energy that not only blew away Baby Dragon, but pierced right through him and struck Mindy directly, resulting in a large explosion.

"Kyaaaaaaaa!"

 **Shirou: 500 LP**

 **Jasmine: 0 LP**

 **Mindy: 0 LP**

Shirou let out a sigh of relief as the holograms faded. "Game. Set. Match."

Once the chaos had cleared, both Jasmine and Mindy were once again visible. The moment their Life Points hit 0 on their Duel Disks, they both dropped to their knees.

"No way...We lost..."

"Beaten by this pervert...a Slifer no less..."

Shirou growled, clenching his fists tightly in annoyance and frustration. He stomped over to the two girls, standing over them with his arms crossed.

"OK, in case you missed it, I'll say it again: I'M. NOT-"

""A pervert". Yeah yeah. We've all heard it before." Jasmine mimicked, clearly irritated. "Look, you may have beaten us, but I would sooner believe that Yugi Muto declared you next King of Games before I believe that stupid story you fed us!"

"But it's the truth!" Shirou cried out, resisting the urge to pull his hair out out of frustration.

"What's going on here?"

All three students immediately turned to face a new, fourth observer.

She was a girl perhaps a bit older than Shirou. She possessed sporadically arranged dark-blonde hair and she wore a uniform just like the girls that Shirou had just defeated. There was, however, one difference between her and the two girls Shirou defeated:

She was even HOTTER!

'STRIIIIIIIIKE~!'

She was absolutely gorgeous, one of the most beautiful girls Shirou had ever seen. However, he realized now was hardly the time and place for such things, returning his expression to normal.

[Alexis!] Both girls cried out in surprise. They immediately stood up and walked over to the blond-haired girl whose name was apparently "Alexis".

"Where have you been?!"

"We thought you had gone missing!"

Alexis gave them a curious look. "What are you talking about? It's been less than a half-hour."

Jasmine looked bashful. "Yeah...well...we tried looking for you and-"

"We ended up finding this pervert trespassing on the Girls' Dorm property!" Mindy directed that harsh accusation towards Shirou.

"Is that so?" Alexis noted, turning her attention from her friends to Shirou, causing him to cringe. "So I guess there's nothing left but to turn him in to be expelled then."

"What?!" Shirou stared at Alexis as if he were about to have a heart attack. "No! Please! You can't! I'm begging you! You see, me and them had this deal, you see, and we were dueling to-"

"Hahahahaha!" Alexis started...laughing? "Calm down. I'm only messing with you. I actually showed up a little bit halfway through the duel, so I could pretty much pick up what was going on from that." So...she figured out their wager from the fact they were dueling in the girls' territory...it was the only logical explanation. She was far more perceptive than Shirou gave her credit for.

Shirou let out a sigh of relief. "That...That's not funny..." He felt a chill go down his spine as he could sensed the two girls' killing stares directed at his back.

"Hey! We said we wouldn't turn you in!"

"But nobody said you were allowed to talk to Alexis!"

[So scram, pervert!]

Shirou had to cover his ears to avoid going deaf from the two girls when they practically screamed in his ears. He gritted his teeth.

"First off: Stop screaming at me in unison!" Shirou growled back. "Second: I already told you! I'm not a pervert! I wandered in here trying to get my stolen room key back!"

"Key?" Alexis wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Jasmine confirmed. "This pervert kept crying about how the key to his room was stolen and he just HAPPENED to wander over to the Obelisk Girls' Dorm by accident while looking for it. Give me a break." Shirou didn't see it, but he could tell Jasmine just rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm not lying!"

"Save it! Just get out of here!" Mindy ordered.

"But I-!"

[Just go! You have ten seconds to leave before we call campus security!]

Shirou hung his head, shoving his hands into his pockets. It hurt. The one thing that hurt him more than those who spoke poorly of his Dad...was being called a liar.

"Fine...Whatever." He turned his back to them, walking over the fence so he could begin his climb over to the other side.

"Hey." Shirou paused at the sound of Alexis's voice. "Your room key...By any chance, was it perhaps stolen by a monkey?"

Shirou immediately straightened, turning on his heels to stare at Alexis in shock, an expression mirrored by Alexis's old friends.

"Alexis!" Mindy cried out in shock.

"Don't tell me you believe that Slifer!" It seemed all Jasmine liked to do was try to stomp all over other people's reasoning. "It's obviously a lie! How can you believe him?"

"I...I kinda have to agree with that last question." Shirou added. "I mean...do you really believe me...?"

"I believe my eyes." Was the blonde girl's cryptic response. Then she pointed her finger in the direction behind Shirou.

All three other duelists stared blankly at her.

[Huh?]

Trying to figure out what she was saying, they followed where she was pointing with their eyes, finally landing on a high-up branch of a tree on the other side of the fence, upon which stood-

"GAAAAAH! IT'S THAT THIEVING MONKEY FROM EARLIER!" Shirou screeched, his eyes bulging out of his sockets. There was no doubt that it was, in fact, the monkey that stole his keys for Shirou could plainly see the keys in the monkey's hands. It was jingling them around in front of its face, like it was some kind of toy. "Grrrr! Give me back my keys, ya damned, dirty ape!"

The other two Obelisk girls were even more shocked by that fact. More-so because the supposed pervert they had tried to have expelled had been telling the truth about something so unbelievable.

"No way..."

"It's right in front of my eyes...but I still don't believe it. I can't believe something so ridiculous..."

"Come down here or I'm gonna mess you up good!" Shirou ordered the monkey again, screaming at the top of his lungs. He could SWEAR that the monkey made a gesture with its hands like "Bring it on". "That's it! You're in for it now, you stupid monkey!"

Shirou started charging towards the fence but halted, immediately running back and stopping in front of the surprised Obelisk Blue girls.

For a brief moment, they were so sure that he was going to gloat to their faces, pointing out how he had been right and they had been wrong and he had STILL beaten them in a 2-on-1 duel with the odds stacked against him. But what happened instead shocked them.

He bowed his head. The boy they had threatened to have kicked out of school bowed his head apology.

"Although it was caused by an accident and a misunderstanding, I still trespassed in girls' territory." Shirou stated. "And for that, I am deeply sorry. But still..." He turned his face upward to look at them. "That was a pretty sweet duel! You two had me on the ropes for a second there! I hope we can duel like that again sometimes, maybe with less serious circumstances!"

Jasmine and Mindy could only stare at him, shocked. They began to contemplate that the boy in front of them...was a complete idiot! First he loses his keys to a monkey, then he accidentally wanders into the girls' dorm territory, then he gets threatened with expulsion depending on the outcome of a duel, and then HE apologizes to THEM!? He HAD TO be a complete idiot.

Aaaa eeee aaah!

The monkey, apparently bored, started climbing down from its tree, running back off into the forest.

"Hey! Get back heeeeeeere!" Immediately returning to his rage directed towards the ape, Shirou burst off running, climbing over the fence with such speed and agility that was surprising for a normal human.

After that, only Alexis, Jasmine, and Mindy were left.

"So...what did you two think of your duel with that Slifer?" Alexis asked. "From the bits I saw, you might have hidden it, but you were having fun dueling someone who could give both of you such a challenge all at once."

"What?!" Mindy blushed from either frustration or embarrassment. "Fun? With that Slifer?! No way!"

"Yeah!" Jasmine agreed. "We just wanted him to get thrown out of here is all! Even if he's not actually a pervert, he's still a Slifer! It was absolutely business! Not for fun! He's just a Slifer Slacker!"

"I dunno." Alexis replied. "From what I gathered today, Slifers might turn out to be more interesting people than you would think..." The faintest smile could be seen on her face.

"What does that mean?"

"What are you talking about, Alexis? Where have you been anyway?"

"Places." Was her vague response. "I'll tell you about it later." Then she departed for the dorms, leaving her two friends to chase after her.

"Come on!"

"Hold on, Alexis!"

"What is up with you?!"

"Tell us!"

[ALEXIIIIIIS!]

Thus Shirou's first day at Duel Academy Island ends

* * *

Unbeknownst to all of them, a lone figure had been observing from high up in the Obelisk Girls' Dorm, a window on the third floor, her cold eyes casually taking in all that had transpired in the duel on the ground far below her. The images of all that had transpired played through her mind again and again, her fascination endless in spite of her blank expression.

She cradled the doll in her arms, almost lovingly if not for the cold, emotionless expression on her face.

"..."

She caressed her doll's head, cocking her head to the side.

"...Fujimura...Shirou..."

Her interest had been peaked.

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. Before you get started about the starting conditions of the duel, remember: This is Yugioh. In the entire franchise, there's been A LOT of duels with special conditions attached. So the conditions Shirou named aren't so strange.**

 **As for the two OCs who got minor screentime...Yes.** **Lord Inquisitor B Joseph H, that was yours at the end there. She won't be a major character, but she will play a role in the future.**

 **That's all for now.**

 **Shirou Fujimura, signing off!**


	3. Arc 1 - Turn 3: Awkward to Frustrating

**I'M ALIIIIIIIVE!** **Sorry for taking so long...been busy with Highschool DxD...:P**

 **For those of you who reviewed last chapter several months ago: Thank you.**

 **For those of you who didn't:...O_O I'm wat-ching yoooou...XD JK~-O_O Or am I?!-Naaah~-O_O Or maybe I am?!**

 **Also, those of you who submitted characters whom I have definitively accepted...could you send those again? I need to discuss something with some of you.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing except Shirou. I'm glad that's the case. I would never be able to make Arc V as thrilling as it is in later arcs.**

* * *

 **Arc 1 - Turn 3: From Awkward to Frustrating**

 _They were back there, in that place._

 _The area next to the lake within the Obelisk Girls' Dorm's territory. Shirou was there, dressed in his jacket with his Duel Disk armed. A cocky grin was on his face._

 _"Aha! Thanks to Flute of Summoning Dragon, I can summon out Tyrant Dragon and Prime Material Dragon from my hand!" Shirou summoned forth two monsters from his hand. One was a massive, dark leathery dragon while the other possessed six wings and apparently golden skin. They both radiated an incredible power that far surpassed every other monster on the field._

 _Across from him, Mindy and Jasmine wore such harsh expressions of disgust._

 _"Geez! To think a pervert would have such perverted monsters!" Jasmine complained, looking away._

 _"What a creep!"_

 _That really irritated Shirou._

 _"Hey! What the Hell do you mean "perverted monsters"!?" He objected. "Tyrant Dragon is the epitome of awesomeness and ferocity!" Shirou pointed his finger towards the sky, unable to believe how the two Obelisk girls could even think about calling Tyrant Dragon a perverted monster. It was absolutely inconceivable that a beast who rains fiery death from the sky could be referred too as perverted._

 _"Are you kidding me?" Mindy asked rhetorically. "Take one good look at those dragons of yours and you tell US whether or not they're perverted!"_

 _Shirou clicked his tongue. "Fine! I'll take one good look but only to prove my point that-" Shirou's words were caught in his throat the moment he laid his eyes on his dragons. "-THEY'RE UBER PERVERTED! WHAT THE HEEEEEEEELL!?"_

 _The dragons summoned by Shirou's Flute of Summoning Dragon were still on the field, but the major difference from before was...was..._

 _THEY WERE WEARING GIANT BIKINIS!_

 _...This was no joke. Shirou saw them plain as day (or night in this case). The two dragons he had just summoned were clad in very tight bikinis, both having somehow suddenly gained the ability to stand on two legs and pose as if they were models or something. Tyrant Dragon was wearing a two piece sporting hotrod flames while Prime Material Dragon wore a silver two-piece that contrasted its gold color._

 _"I...I don't even..." Shirou clenched his fists, trying to wrap his mind around whatever had just happened in the five seconds he hadn't been paying attention to his monsters. "I mean...WHAT THE HELL!? Did one of you activate a trap or something!?"_

 _Jasmine scoffed in disgust. "Oh please! Don't put this perverted mess on us! You're the one who activated the Field Spell: Beach Time Vacation."_

 _Shirou blinked. "...What?" And that was when he noticed the sudden change in scenery. He went from a dark night beside the girls' dorm to a sunny day at the beach, all three of them standing in the hot summer sand. "When did this happen!?" Then he looked at Tyrant Dragon (8/ATK: 6000/DEF: 5000) and Prime Material Dragon (6/ATK: 5000/DEF: 4000). His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "And more importantly: WHY DOES THIS MAKE THEIR STATS SO HIGH!?"_

 _[How should we know? It's your card!]_

 _"AND WHEN DID YOU TWO GET A WARDROBE CHANGE!?" Yet again, Shirou was stunned by the sight when he turned back to the girls. They were both now clad in dark-blue, skimpy bikinis, their overall average assets being emphasized by their outfits. While Shirou's male pride demanded he look and enjoy, the majority of him which was a gentleman forced him to look away, his face turning scarlet red._

 _"It's an effect of your Field Spell, dimwit!" The red-head pointed out, crossing her arms under her well-developed bosoms._

 _"That's the most BS explanation ever given and you know it!" Shirou was so close to ripping out his hair out of frustration. Whenever he thought he had gotten a handle on things, they take another confusing spiral down "Even Weirder Street". How was he supposed to keep up with all of this mess!? "Who would even create a card like this?!"_

 _"Shirou..."_

 _"Huh...?" Shirou tensed at the sound of that familiar voice. It couldn't be..._

 _"Shirou! Hold your head high and take this challenge head-on!" The familiar man declared._

 _"D-Dad?!" Shirou had so much trouble believing it._

 _"Remember Shirou: It's not about the cards," Shirou's expression immediately changed to one of disgust, nausea, and even further shock, "it's about how you use them." As scarring as it was for any and all involved, that ever-so familiar black-haired man came running towards their duel...clad in a girl's one piece. "You can still win as long as you have a single card in your deck!"_

 _Shirou's eye twitched. It was at that point in time that his will was completely broken. He sat down on the ground, curling up into a ball._

 _"Yep. This is a dream. A very, very, VERY traumatizing, mentally scarring dream." He groaned to himself, wishing he could go back to that teary-eyed memory he usually dreamed about. "Just a dream...Just a dream...Just a dream..."_

 _"Well that really explains a lot." Shirou jumped at the familiar voice coming from behind him. He spun around to see a familiar, blue-haired boy clothed in the attire of Lord of D. "You know, for a second there, I was really beginning to wonder what was going on!" Syrus (for who else could it have been?) then frowned. "But now I'm beginning to worry about what kind of mental state you have, Shirou..."_

 _"You and me both..." Shirou sighed out. "I think I have either an INCREDIBLY odd sense of humor or very deep issues..."_

 _"Hey, Shirou! Look at this!" That cheerful voice immediately captured both boys' attention. There was Jaden, wearing a plastic costume which made him look like Alexandrite Dragon. "Hey! I'm Alexandrite Dragon! Isn't that neat?! Haha!" He apparently did not realize how ridiculous he really looked._

 _Shirou gaped, unable to fully voice how much he was "done" with today. "I'm beginning to think...it may be a mix of both..." Shirou groaned. "This has been a very disgusting, very scarring dream...Something is seriously wrong inside my head..."_

 _[Oh definitely.]_

 _Everyone present agreed simultaneously._

 _"...I think I'm going to kill myself when I wake up in order to cope with this..."_

 _Shirou felt like just crawling into a hole and dying. The only solace he had was that this was just a dream and that he would wake up any minu-_

* * *

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Shirou groaned, still half-asleep. He turned over in his bed, covering his ears with his pillows, trying to drown out the irritating sound of the alarm clock. Each and every beep felt like a heavy jackhammer on the inside of his skull, bouncing around everywhere. That's how tired he felt right now. Part of him wished the whole world would just go back to sleep for five minutes so he could have his rest.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

"Mnnnn!" He whined, swinging his arm around behind him, struggling to find an angle at which he could smack the snooze button on his alarm clock. "Just shut up already..." Eventually, he realized he would not be able to complete his objective from his current position. Reluctantly, he turned his body around, once again beginning to swing his arm wildly, trying to slam his fist down on his clock.

There were several misses as his fist hit nothing but the table next to his bed. If he had been fully conscious, his hand would have been incredibly sore.

But finally, after the fifteenth or sixteenth strike, Shirou managed to hit the top of a plastic-feeling device. The noise eventually stopped afterwards.

"Thank goodness..." Shirou let out a sigh of relief, snuggling back against his soft adorable pillow. Over the course of his small movements, he couldn't help but let his eyes open just a crack, giving him a blurry glimpse of his room before he closed his eyes again. "...Hm...?"

He opened his eyes just a crack, a hint of consciousness showing in his previously blank eyes. After getting one more glimpse, he closed his eyes again.

Then his eyes shot open wide!

"Wait a minute!" He shot upright in his bed, completely tossing off his bed sheets as he forcibly grabbed the clock next to him. "No. No no no! NO NO NO! NOOOO!" The clock he held in his trembling hands showed three numbers in glowing, red lights: 10:43. Classes started at 8:30.

So, to sum up what was occurring right now:

Shirou was very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY late.

Shirou started running back and forth through his room, quickly changing into his uniform which was scattered about the room, afterwards gathering his backpack, deck, and Duel Disk in preparation for what little of a school day he had left for the day. He felt both embarrassed and fearful.

He had missed most of the FIRST OFFICIAL DAY OF SCHOOL!

The way he saw it, with school, you only miss the first day if you're either A) Very sick to the point you can't stand or B) A super slacker who will probably end up dropping out. There was no doubt in Shirou's mind that he would end up being seen as the latter and effectively become the "Least Favorite" of every teacher whose class he missed.

Part of him wished his first class had been with Professor Banner. He probably would have just let bygones be bygones, but who knows what his other teachers were like!

He tried to think about other things in order to keep his mind off the stress of being late.

"Stupid Jaden and his cool-sounding duel. Stupid girls and their stubbornness. Stupid monkey for making me stay out all night trying to get my keys back!" Shirou growled especially loudly on that last one. "THAT-STUPID-MONKEEEEEEEY!" He screamed it for all of the heavens to hear his rage.

The moment he got fully dressed, he burst out the door running, making sure not to lock it behind him this time in case he lost his key again. After the duel against the two girls from Obelisk last night, Shirou had spent four hours looking for the monkey that stole his keys. It didn't help that there turned out to be more than one of them on this god-forsaken island. And some of those monkeys were really aggressive. He had to hide in a small cave for fifteen minutes in order to escape a group of them that he had "unintentionally' angered.

But in the end, he managed to get his keys back and got five hours of sleep...so all in all: His night sucked.

And now he had to get to his next class and come up with a plausible explanation as to why he was late.

One that didn't involve the fact he had (albeit unintentionally) been trespassing near the Obelisk Girls' Dorm.

Shirou sighed to himself, crossing his arms.

"I hope Jaden had significantly better luck than I did." Shirou hung his head, an aura of depression cloaking his body. "I got to duel students from Obelisk Blue, but not the way I wanted."

Shirou took out his PDA, realizing just how much more time had passed since he had left his room.

It was 11:02.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH! I'M SO LAAAAAAATE!"

* * *

Shirou felt a pang of reluctance as he shoved the door to the classroom open.

The moment he took a single step into that classroom, every single eye in the room was on him, analyzing him, judging him.

It was like he triggered some sort of alarm system. That or the students of this school were incredibly perceptive.

It was rather unsettling, many of them whispering to the person next to them.

"You! Latecomer in red! Identify yourself!" A harsh and somewhat effeminate voice commanded. "Barging in all willy-nilly as if you owned the place, completely interrupting the lesson I was giving?"

The person who had spoken so harshly to Shirou possessed blonde hair and wore a blue blazer complete with gold trimmings and ruffled pink collar, shoulders, upper chest, and sleeves. That person also wore what appeared to be make-up.

"Um...Shirou Fujimura." Shirou greeted. "Sorry, Mr-"

"'Mister'?" The effeminate person asked in a very warning tone.

Shirou immediately straightened up, bowing his head in apology. "Oh! Sorry, Miss!"

There were many soft laughs from many students sitting all around the classroom. They were mostly centered around Shirou's fellow Slifers, but many of the Ra Yellows were suppressing laughter, and even one or two of the Obelisk Blue students were hiding grins.

'Did I miss something?' Shirou wondered to himself.

"You little-!" The man (Shirou assumed it was a man now) was clearly resisting the desire to say something particularly nasty. He glared daggers in Shirou's direction. "I have studied duel monsters for many years and have a Ph.D in dueling, so I have the right to be called "Doctor" thank you very much!"

Shirou rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling awkwardly to himself.

"Hehe! Sorry about that, teach!" Shirou apologized, unaware that his unintentional insult was further fueling the man's anger.

"I JUST told you, you Slifer Slacker! It's DR. Crowler! Not Mr. Crowler, not teach, and MOST CERTAINLY NOT MS. CROWLER!" The man, now identified as Crowler, practically screamed this at Shirou. "So get that into your thick skull, take your seat, and try not to weigh down the rest of the class with your stupidity! You're just lucky I'm so kind that I don't throw you into detention here and now!"

Well, it was clear to Shirou that he was NOT making a friend of this teacher. A part of him wanted to give that jerk a piece of his mind, but Shirou knew he would never get away with saying what he had in mind to a TEACHER of all people. He could get seriously punished. All he could do was do what he normally did in the classes of teachers he hated: Sit down, stay quiet, and then gripe about what a prick he is later when he's not around. That's what any sane but responsible student did in Shirou's opinion.

So Shirou didn't even bother deciding a specific seat. He just made his way into what he assumed to be the Slifers' section of the room, taking an empty seat.

"Hey there, Shirou!" Shirou looked down at the seat in front of him to see a familiar, fellow Slifer waving cheerfully at him. "And here I was thinking I slept in late this morning!" Jaden said it in jest, but Shirou felt a huge blow to his ego. If he slept-in later than Jaden, one of the most easy-going guys he's met so far, then that clearly meant he was truly a slacker.

'I need to work on getting more sleep.' Shirou whined to himself, laying his head down on the desk in front of him. 'I can't be this late for class again or I'll get in serious trouble next time.'

Shirou nodded to himself, becoming determined to do better and rise through the ranks.

He had to. If he ever wanted to become a great duelist and prove himself, he had to-

"MR. Fujimura!" Shirou stiffened as Crowler called on him. "Please stand!" Shirou immediately did as instructed, keeping his arms at his side.

"Yes, M-Dr. Crowler?" Shirou congratulated himself on not making another error in addressing the teacher.

"Since you were OH-SO CONFIDENT about your knowledge that you felt you could show up this late into the day," Crowler announced, as if trying to shame Shirou somehow, "then perhaps you could answer some questions about the material we've been going over?"

Shirou nodded, doing his best to neither ignore nor antagonize Crowler. "Yes, sir."

Crowler smirked to himself. 'Good. I initially intended to humiliate that upstart, Jaden Yuki,' he thought to himself, 'but this boy will make an excellent subject to be made an example of in his stead.' His inner monologue by a vicious, mental laugh.

Then he cleared his throat, directing everyone's attention towards Shirou, ready for the fine moment when yet another Slifer is derided in his class.

"Alright, Fujimura, tell me: In a duel, how can cards miss the timing?" 'Try to answer that, you miserable dropout.'

For a moment, Shirou's eyes widened, but then they slackened. He sighed, sitting back down on his chair, propping his head on his arm.

"What's the matter?" Crowler asked, looking awfully pleased while speaking in a mock-sympathetic tone. "Oh, I'd understand if this problem is too hard for you. I suppose I'll just-"

Shirou shook his head. "No. I just thought I'd be asked something more difficult."

"Hm?!" Crowler let a throaty growl of displeasure.

"How cards miss the timing?" Shirou repeated. "Sometimes an optional effect can only be activated "when" a condition happens. In this case, you are only allowed to activate the effect when the activation condition being met was the last thing to happen in the game. If something else happened after the activation condition was met, then you have missed the timing, and cannot activate the optional effect, unless it is a certain type of optional Trigger Effect, such as ones phrased "If... you can...". Optional effects which can miss the timing are phrased "When... you can..."."

Shirou said this all in one breath. Everyone just watched with abated breath. Those, like Jaden, who had limited mental capacity even looked a little dizzy trying to process everything Shirou just said.

The snow-haired boy took a moment to catch his breath as Crowler just stared in shock at not only the accuracy but the DETAIL of the answer.

'Tch! A lucky guess!' Crowler growled to himself. 'Let's see how he handles something a bit tougher!'

"Alright then, Slifer Slacker, then answer this one: What are the rules regarding original ATK for monsters with "?" ATK points?" This wasn't a question that appeared on any of the exams or lessons thus far, so there was no way this "Slifer Slacker" would be able to know it.

"Certain monsters original ATK and DEF are determined only when the monster is Summoned to the field; when cards like "Kasha" are Summoned, their original ATK and DEF are dependent on the specifics of their effect. Cards whose ATK and DEF are determined by these factors usually have a written ATK and/or DEF of ? or 0. Additionally, if these monsters are banished from the field, and re-summoned, or flipped face-down and back up again, this resets their ATK and DEF unless their effect is one that is automatically activated upon summoning. Otherwise, their ATK and DEF would then be treated as 0. Monsters with a ATK and DEF of 0 would always be treated as having 0 ATK for the purposes of card effects, such as for Summoning through searchers or when their original ATK and DEF come into question (such as for the effect of "Megamorph"). Monsters with a "?" for their ATK or DEF value cannot be searched through searchers, as they effectively have no ATK or DEF to measure before they are Summoned. However in most cases, even after they're Summoned, they are treated as having 0 ATK and DEF while face-up on the field."

There were even more stunned expressions on many of the other students' faces.

It was one thing to answer the question asked by a teacher. It was another to completely explain every part of the answer with perfect detail.

Shirou hid his sense of satisfaction under his tired, passive expression.

Crowler clenched his fists, clearly suppressing annoyance and quite possibly rage.

"Alright then...Name three cards that grant automatic victory when certain conditions are fulfilled and what their respective conditions are!" Crowler ORDERED, everyone in the classroom becoming more interested.

Shirou leaned his head on his arm again. "There's Exodia the Forbidden One and you must gather all five pieces of Exodia in your hand to achieve "automatic victory". There's also Destiny Board and to use its effect, you must place 1 "Spirit Message" card from your hand or Deck to your side of the field at the end of each of your opponent's turns. If this card places "Spirit Message "I"", "Spirit Message "N"", "Spirit Message "A"" and "Spirit Message "L"" all on the field in that order through its effect, you win the Duel. Then there's the trap card known as Last Turn where you must have 1000 or fewer Life Points to activate it. When activated, you choose one monster you control, and all other cards on the field and in both players' hands are sent to the Graveyard. Your opponent then Special Summons a monster from their Deck. A special Battle Phase occurs in which the two monsters battle and battle damage is ignored. The player whose monster remains alone on the field at the End Phase of this turn wins the Duel."

'Grrrrrr! Just you wait, Slifer Slacker! You're just getting lucky!' Crowler practically screamed in his own mind. 'Let's see how long it takes for you to slip up!'

Meanwhile, in Shirou's mind:

'Ah~ I love it when I one-up an ego-centric teacher like Crowler~ This class is gonna be more fun than I thought~!'

"OK, Mr. Smartypants! Then tell me..."

And the pattern was fairly obvious from thereon. Crowler would ask a question relating to various cards, rules, and strategies, and Shirou showed no hesitation in answering. Shirou himself was surprised that Crowler asked some of the few questions whose answers he knew by heart. After all, it's not like he did poorly on the written part of the entrance exam. If anything, it was most likely the practical exam that earned him his overall low score which in turn landed him in Slifer Red.

But still, Shirou was certain he was going to screw up and get chewed out at some point, but Crowler asked relatively easy questions that anyone who's ever held a Duel Disk could tell the answer like "What are the different types of spell cards?" and "How many tributes are required for the various levels of monster?".

For Shirou, he had to assume that either Crowler underestimated him due to his status as a Slifer or Crowler himself did not have much diverse knowledge despite "having a Ph.D in Dueling".

It was back and forth, an unending clash of words between teacher and student.

It had gone from a simple attempt to put down Slifer Red to Crowler trying to find and emphasize something that the snow-haired boy didn't know. Some (mainly the Obelisk Blues) didn't care. They believed Shirou would slip-up soon while everyone else sat on the edge of their seats, just waiting to see who would cave first, Crowler or Shirou.

No one dared to speak. Those who had no interest in the "confrontation" we're toying with either their decks or their new Duel Academy PDAs.

Nobody knew how much time had passed since it started, but they knew it was over when they heard a loud noise echo from the intercom.

The bell.

Class was over. As was the "battle" between Shirou and Crowler.

What few breaths that were still being held were finally released as everyone got ready to head to their next class.

And the thing that made it even better was the fact Crowler was absolutely FUMING. Shirou had "won". And Crowler knew that. He had been "defeated" by a low-ranked, tardy Slifer. THAT was what dealt the most severe wound to his ego. It was such a satisfying victory that Shirou couldn't hide it.

"I guess this brings an end to our fun little game, huh, Doc?"

And that's the story of how Shirou Fujimura pushed his luck.

Crowler's face quickly turned red with rage, his blood moving to his face like Mercury up a thermometer.

"That's it! I won't be made a fool in front of my own class by a truant!" Crowler slammed a furious fist down onto his own desk...Then he let out a whine like a wounded dog, clutching his hand in pain. " Ten pages!" He barked. "For not only being late but also for disrespecting a teacher, I want you to write an entire ten-page report on the history of spell and trap cards, the different types, and how and when each is used!"

Shirou stood up abruptly, eyes wide in shock and outrage. "WHAT?! Ten pages?!"

"Do I hear fifteen?" Crowler asked tauntingly.

"That's not fair!" Shirou was seriously contemplating lunging at and strangling Crowler.

"Want me to make it twenty?"

"Oh you vindictive, SON OF A-Mmph!" A hand suddenly clamped over Shirou's mouth, two sets of strong arms quickly dragging Shirou through the door and on to their next class.

"Sorry, teach! Gotta get going!" Came Jaden's voice as Shirou was taken away before he could tell Crowler a thing or two about where he could shove that fifteen-page report.

* * *

In the next class, Shirou sat between Jaden and Syrus, crossing his arms and burying his face into them like they were a make-shift pillow. Despite how bad his mood was, he was surprised to see how similar the classrooms were. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought he had walked right back into his previous class (and what a nightmare facing Crowler would turn into...for Crowler anyway).

The Slifer headmaster soon sat in his chair in front of the class. "Hello children. As some of you might know, my name is Professor Lyman Banner..."

Shirou started to tune out the kind Professor's words, not in much of a mood for another teacher introduction. Instead, he glanced to his left and right, looking at his red-clothed friends on either side of him.

"Thanks for getting me out of there, guys..." Shirou thanked with a hollow tone.

Jaden, who was already preparing to sleep through class, spoke with a drowsy tone.

"Don't mention it...Doesn't take a genius to figure out how ugly that was gonna get..." Jaden pointed out, his eyes drifting closed and open. He let out an almost inhumanly loud yawn, his eyes only remaining out of politeness towards his friend. "But wow, you really made an enemy of Crowler. I had to beat him in a duel and turn an Ancient Gear Golem into scrap metal to make him have it out for me that much." Then Jaden grinned cheerfully. "So welcome to the club, buddy!"

Syrus sighed, once again puzzle by his new best friend's abnormal view on things. "That's not exactly something to cheer about, Jay. Crowler already has it out for Slifer Red as it is. Shirou was lucky that he didn't get something serious like a month of detention or something!"

"Right." Shirou agreed sarcastically. "Like a fifteen-page report on spells and traps just because I answered all of his questions correctly is him taking it easy. Easy to say from your point of view, ain't it?"

"Well, I..." Then Syrus hung his head, looking ashamed. "Sorry..." Confused, Shirou raised an eyebrow.

"Relax. I'm just bustin' your chops, Syrus." Shirou assured the blue-haired boy. "I really do need to thank you guys though. Going postal on him would not have done me any favors. You guys really saved my butt back there."

It was at that point that Jaden looked upwards, noting the teacher's gaze in their direction (specifically at them).

"And I think we may need to again."

"Syrus." Shirou suddenly jumped, startled. He was certain that his name would have been the one called out for talking. Was Banner mistaken or was he punishing Syrus to goad Shirou into confessing?!

Syrus stood up, trembling. "Yes sir." For a moment, Professor Banner's expression remained seriously calm.

"Do me a favor and grab Pharaoh would you?"

Syrus blinked, clearly confused by not only the request but also by the fact he was not in trouble. "Umm..."Pharaoh"?"

"Unless you are minoring as a scratch post." Banner remarked with an amused smile on his face.

Meeooow!

Everyone heard a meow coming from the floor. Syrus looked down to see a big tubby cat rubbing himself against the small boy's leg.

Jaden grinned at the sight. "He seems to think you make a good one Sy."

Nobody could resist laughter, even Jaden and Shirou whose laughter was of a good nature.

It almost made Shirou forget he had fifteen pages to write later.

Almost.

* * *

After that, it was finally time for PE, one of the classes that had not changed since elementary school.

The place where you can exercise yourself into exhaustion and completely vent all of your daily troubles on your own body through physical workout. While Shirou DEEPLY questioned the purpose of a PE class at an academy where people studied DUELING, he had no complaints. If anything, it gave a more realistic feeling that a normal school would give. A place to sweat out the day's stress. No books, no teachers grilling you with questions, no infuriating homework to be done.

Everyone in class was dressed in track suits, the school's logo being emblazoned on the upper left area of it.

"Shouldn't we be wearing more things like gym shorts and T-shirts?" Jaden complained, tugging at his collar. "Isn't still a little bit too hot to be wearing these things?"

Shirou shrugged. "Hey. You'll be glad when winter comes around." He glanced around the room, trying to find some indication of when the class was supposed to start. "I just hope our PE teacher isn't some kind of hardass. For some reason, I always get picked on when it comes to those types. First it starts with a few extra laps around the gym until it eventually gets to the point where they're sitting on top of me while I'm doing push-ups and sit-ups."

And that was when the door on the right side of the gym opened and a new figure walked in. She wore a Duel Academy track suit and had large, grey eyes and red hair, possessing one bunch that sticks out over the right side of her head. She wore a pair of earrings, and her lips had a soft shade of lipstick.

"Hi, everyone! My name's Fonda Fontaine! I'll be your gym instructor for this semester!" The woman greeted with a bright, cheery smile. "Are you ready to sweat?!"

Shirou stared at her in silence.

"Jaden."

The brown-haired boy glanced at him in confusion. "Yeah?"

"I take back what I said before. She can sit on me any time she wants." A light blush tinged Shirou's cheeks as he stared at the older woman with an expression that meant he was doing nothing but ogling her.

Normally, he would be ashamed by doing something like ogling a woman he just met so blatantly, but it wasn't like he was the only one. His expression was mirrored by several of the other boys (excluding Jaden) in the class. She was a drop-dead gorgeous woman. Regardless of sexual orientation, everyone had to admit she was beautiful, guys and girls alike.

"Well, everyone certainly seems excited judging by your faces!" Ms. Fontaine noted with great enthusiasm, either oblivious or ignoring the actual meaning of the students' gazes. "Well, since this is going to be our first day together, I've decided to start us off on a fun note, so, all for today, you're free to do as you please in class today as long as it is athletic. Basketball, tennis, volleyball, or even just running laps. So let's all get along, OK?" She gave a friendly wink towards everyone.

Her pep-filled tone and the overall realization that PE wasn't going to be as much of a drag as they would expect from normal schools really boosted everyone's spirits.

So class started off on a rather positive note.

Ms. Fontaine was easily as great a teacher as Professor Banner. She was kind, energetic, and extremely positive. It was an added perk that she was a beautiful, youthful woman.

So, for those who were of Slifer Red, they already liked her better. Shirou was excluded from this as he ranked them around the same. Granted, he was occasionally swayed by the unbelievable beauty some women possessed, but he was never shallow enough to let that significantly affect his judgment.

But he wouldn't say it wasn't an enjoyable class.

At one point, they were even allowed a few games of dodge ball. Unfortunately, however, they ended up needing to put the dodge balls away because one of the students continued to intentionally hit the heads of the other players. Nobody pointed out the identity of the student...but it was Shirou.

He got really over-competitive sometimes and dodge ball was one of sports he becomes the most aggressive in.

"LOOK OUT!"

Unfortunately, sometimes, his aggressiveness was mirrored by his opponents. That was why he was pelted in the face by an especially painful dodge ball. He couldn't be positive, but he was fairly certain that it had been one of those crazy chicks from the previous night who had thrown it. He probably would not have been as bad off if he hadn't also slipped on the ball laying on the ground behind him. It was almost like something out of a cartoon.

Shirou just slipped on the ball, fell, and hit his head.

And everything went dark.

* * *

When he woke up, it was like someone was playing the drums with his skull, a dull beat of pain with every passing second.

"Well, good morning, sleepyhead~" A soft voice greeted him as he returned to consciousness, the sound being somewhat soothing to his aching skull. He felt the sensation of a soft pillow behind his head, signalling that he was in a bed of some sort.

Shirou groaned quietly as his eyes slowly slid open, being immediately blinded by the fluorescent light hanging overhead. The soothing feeling he had received from the honey-filled voice he had heard before was completely overshadowed by the sensation of getting his head beaten and his eyes burnt to a crisp by the blinding light. Overall, his day wasn't going too well thus far.

"That was a nasty little spill you took." The voice pointed out, the light slowly clearing out of his eyes. "I'm not sure whether you're unlucky for having taken the fall in the first place or lucky that your skull was thick enough to prevent any serious injury."

"I'll take that as a compliment..." Shirou said, wincing as he pushed himself into a sitting-up position. "Where...Where am I...?" He winced again, rubbing a sore spot on the back of his head.

"You're in the Nurse's Office, Mr. Fujimura."

It was only then, as his vision finally cleared, that Shirou realized he wasn't alone in the room. There was another person, an older woman. He initially failed to recognize her because her outfit had changed from a track suit to a white jacket with blue trim, a pink skirt, and brown heeled boots. However, what really helped him was her outright gorgeous appearance that only a fool could forget.

"Ms. Fontaine!" Shirou felt his face heat up at the woman at his bedside. "U-Uh-I-uh-!" He cleared his throat, trying to fight off his embarrassment. "Anyway, uh...what are you doing here?" Again, Shirou winced as his head was struck by another wave of pain. "And where's the bus that ran me over?"

Ms. Fontaine giggled at Shirou's dazed comments. "Well, I'm the school nurse. I wouldn't be doing my job very well if I WEREN'T in the Nurse's Office." Then her smile became especially teasing. "And considering how you took such a nasty spill, I doubt it would take a bus to knock you out cold."

"Oh HA HA HA HA-" Shirou held up his hand to prevent Ms. Fontaine from interrupting. "-One more!-HAAAA!" Shirou stared, deadpan. "Hilarious." He looked down and noticed he was still dressed in his PE uniform. "How long was I out anyway? My head's hurting like crazy." It took a few moments for Shirou to realize something confusing in Ms. Fontaine's words. "Wait...I thought you were the PE instructor?"

From the expression on Ms. Fontaine's face, one would have thought Shirou had said something amusing. "I am."

"...but you just said you were the school nurse."

"I am."

The snow-haired boy's mouth curved downward into a frown. "So, you're the PE instructor AND the school nurse?"

"Yes, I am." The older woman responded with pleasant enthusiasm. "Exercising the students ragged and treating their injuries afterwards, that's my job description."

Never before in his life had Shirou heard of such an odd job. She was a woman of many talents apparently. "OK...so how long was I out?"

The nurse/PE instructor considered how to best respond to his question. "Several hours, I'm afraid." Shirou's heart sank. "School's over for the day." While she was uncomfortable about the troubled expression on Shirou's face, Ms. Fontaine did her best to retain a more positive energy. "But the good news is that you don't have a concussion, so you won't have to be put under watch for the time being. You're free to leave whenever you like."

A heavy darkness descended over Shirou, emphasizing his depressed state. "...the whole day...?" He couldn't believe he had missed the WHOLE FIRST DAY of school at Duel Academy. He had entered in the hopes of obtaining the knowledge and ability needed to someday defeat his sister in a duel, but he had started his first day off on the worst possible note. "...those stupid...mother-...-it, goddamned monkeys..."

Nobody, especially Ms. Fontaine, could have possibly made head or tails of what Shirou was saying, so she decided to ignore it, focusing on filling out some forms that laid on her desk.

Shirou looked at his open hand in front of him, as if it had been the reason he was in his current situation. 'Damn it...I get robbed by a monkey, mistaken for a pervert, late to class, got knocked off my ass in front of everybody, and now I missed the entire first day..." He thought angrily to himself. 'If things keep going like this, I may as well kiss Duel Academy goodbye along with any chance of beating Makoto...and also that cocky proctor, Weisse...If I could just get one more chance, I know I could beat her fair and square...'

Fate was funny sometimes. It worked in ways that were sometimes outright obvious.

"Oh Fon-Fooooooon~!" Shirou stiffened at the sound of a disturbingly familiar voice. "I'm low on cash again! You think you can loan me some money~?" Shirou saw a figure walk cheerfully into the room, hand raised in greeting as though she were speaking to an old friend.

Ms. Fontaine sighed, showing the first sign of dissatisfaction since Shirou had first laid eyes on her. "I really would Alicia, but you have the funny habit of never paying me back." She said it without even paying a glance to the woman who appeared behind her.

She was wearing a uniform reminiscent of those of the Obelisk Blue's female students like Ms. Fontaine, but Shirou immediately recognized her by her hairstyle which had her hair styled into two, blonde drills. There was no way Shirou could have ever forgotten such a ridiculous hairstyle. The shock of this realization caused him to jump forward onto the bed, stumbling as his feet hit the ground.

"Y-You! It's you!" Shirou pointed an accusing finger in the direction of the blonde-haired woman. "The Duel Proctor lady!"

"Huh?" The woman's jolly expression faded into that of boredom when she turned to face Shirou. "First off, my name is Alicia Weisse, so call me "Weisse" or "Ms. Weisse", little boy." She immediately turned her attention back to Ms. Fontaine, wrapping her arms around the nurse. "Come on, Fon-Fon, can't you help me out this one time~? I'm really, really, really, really, reeeaaaally hungry!"

However, Ms. Fontaine just as easily brushed off her attempts at begging. "It'll hardly be "this one time" considering you've done it everyday for the past few years. I'll start loaning you money again once you've paid back the hundreds of other meals you still owe me for." It was clear from any normal person's perspective that this was a common issue for this odd duo.

Shirou growled in irritation. "Hey! I'm still here! Don't just ignore me!" He shouted, flailing his arms like a child throwing a tantrum. It was frustrating to be so blatantly ignored by the woman he was dramatically dreaming of defeating for the humiliation he suffered previously. "Come on, Fake Teacher! I want a rematch! You and me! Mano y Womano! Come on! Hook me up!"

Weisse's lip curled in disgust, looking as if she just noticed Shirou's presence. "Why should I waste my time with some Slifer Slacker who barely passed the entrance exam?" She asked rhetorically in a condescending tone.

Her harsh words only served to further piss Shirou off. "What was that?!"

"Alicia!" Ms. Fontaine gasped in shock. "I didn't expect something like that from you considering-MMPH!" She was silenced when Weisse suddenly clasped her hand over the nurse's face, placing a finger to her own lips.

"SSSSHHHHH!"

While Shirou was somewhat curious as to the meaning behind that action, he refused to be deterred from his original objective. "I don't care what you think of me! We're going to duel here and now and I'm gonna have Buster Blader beat you into the dirt!" Shirou stomped his foot impatiently onto the floor. "I want a rematch! And I'm not leaving you alone until I get one!"

Weisse turned to Shirou with the same indifference as before. "And give me one good reason why I should let you? Why is this rematch even that important to you?"

It was a fair question. One that Shirou felt uncomfortable answering in front of others. Why was he so humiliated about being given his win? Why was he upset that he was allowed to enter with ease? What other student wouldn't have killed to have had his kind of luck?

"...My pride." Shirou answered, trying to hide the pink tinging his cheeks. Weisse raised an eyebrow, but she said nothing. "It's my pride as a duelist, the same pride my dad gave me. I want to become a better duelist, good enough to surpass even him, and I want to be able to overcome any opponent. But most of all, I want to declare with this pride that I earned every single win...Against you...I didn't achieve that goal. It may be stupid and childish, but...if I don't have my pride as a duelist, the pride with which I enjoy dueling, then what's the point of even owning a deck let alone becoming a pro?"

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence.

"PFFFFFTHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Weisse's laughter broke that silence in the rudest possible way. "What a cheesy reason! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She hunched over, hugging her stomach as her laughter boomed louder than any other noise in the room.

The blush on Shirou's face intensified with each and every passing second. "S-Shut up! I was serious!"

"Hehehehe~! I don't doubt it!" Weisse responded, coughing as she tried getting her laughter under control. "It's cheesy, but it's fitting coming from a Fujimura-Hahaha!"

Shirou frowned. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

However, Weisse quickly waved the matter off, suppressing her amusement to a mere smile. "Ahem...Anyway, if this rematch is so important to you, then I suppose I could humor you, little boy." She shrugged her shoulders, seeming uncaring either way.

"R-Really?!" Shirou had expected her to keep blowing him off until he graduated (if he graduated). The affirmative answer had been a pleasant surprise. He grinned. "Haha! Awesome! Just let me grab my duel gear and then we'll rumble! Just wait and see! I'm going to-!"

"Uh uh uh~" Weisse suddenly wagged her finger in front of Shirou's face, smiling mischievously. "However, you have to prove you're worthy, little boy~"

Shirou's expression shifted to confusion. "Huh?"

Then Weisse spun Ms. Fontaine around, turning her to face an equally confused Shirou. "You got this, right, Fon-Fon?" The blonde-haired woman patted the nurse gently on the back, smiling brightly.

Ms. Fontaine, on the other hand, looked significantly less amused. "I don't get what you're playing at, Alicia, but I'm not in the mood for your games. This seems like it's your mess, so I don't see why I should be involved in resolving it." Ms. Fontaine turned to leave, but Weisse quickly stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, Fon-Fon~" Weisse urged in a giddy tone. "When was the last time you cut back and had fun with a good, old-fashioned duel?"

But Ms. Fontaine seemed firm in her stance. "Say all you like. I'm not getting involved." She tried walking away again, but Weisse walked in her path, slightly more alarmed than before.

"OK-Wait wait wait!" Weisse raised her hands to halt Ms. Fontaine's progress. "Just hear me out. If you duel this little boy for me...I'll pay it back."

A pause.

"What?"

"Every last penny I ever borrowed from you? I'll pay it all back upfront." Weisse's mouth curved into a mischievous smile. "But only if you _win_."

"Fine." Ms. Fontaine said a little _too_ quickly, trying to act as if the situation was bothersome. "I will duel Fujimura. However, I will be doing this for educational reasons, understand?"

[Of course.]

-is what the other two said, but what they thought was:

 _[Try not to be so obvious.]_

Weisse clasped her hands together, smiling brightly. "And I know the perfect place to have this showdown now that classes are over!"

* * *

The gym was almost eerie when it was empty.

Well, not entirely empty.

Currently, there were three occupants: Shirou, Weisse, and Ms. Fontaine. Shirou was still dressed in his PE jersey, but he was also equipped with his duel disk and deck, standing on one side of one of the tennis courts across from Ms. Fontaine who also possessed a similar duel disk. Weisse stood on the sidelines, staring smugly at the event (which she orchestrated) unfolding before her.

"Alright, so regardless of the outcome, no hard feelings, huh, teach?" Shirou offered.

Ms. Fontaine smiled confidently. "You say it as if the duel has already been decided." She gave a lighthearted laugh. "I suppose it's my duty as a teacher to help the student understand the reality of dueling."

"And you say I'm sounding overconfident!" Despite their words, the atmosphere was incredibly light. "Alright then!"

[Let's Duel!]

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4000 LP**

"Lady's first." Shirou offered.

"Don't mind if I do." Ms. Fontaine replied. "Draw!" She added a card from the top of her deck to her hand. "And first, I will summon Fire Princess in Defense Mode!" A silver-haired woman clothed in a scarlet red robe appeared on the field, clutching a staff in her hand (4/ATK: 1300/DEF: 1500). "And next I activate the spell card, Spell Absorption!" A green card depicting a hand using magic to sap the power out of an enemy appeared on the field.

Shirou cocked his head to the side. "Huh? What does that do?"

"You'll find out in just a second!" Ms. Fontaine activated laid yet another card face-up in her spell/trap card zone. "I activate the spell card, Blue Medicine!" A green card depicting a bottle pouring a blue liquid into a wine glass appeared onto the field. "And thanks to this spell, I can increase my Life Points by 400! It's one good medicine!"

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4400 LP**

"What happens next is what I would like to call a chain reaction." Ms. Fontaine pointed at her Spell Absorption which began to radiate a brilliant, sky-blue light. "Thanks to my Spell Absorption, I gain another 500 Life Points each time a spell card is used, and it doesn't end there!"

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4900 LP**

"Whenever I increase my life points, Fire Princess's effect allows me to inflict 500 points of damage to my opponent, this being you in this case!" Fire Princess started glowing a bright red aura, the aura quickly igniting into a cloak of flames. "And because I just increased my Life Points _twice_ , you are inflicted with 1000 points of damage to your Life Points!" Fire Princess extended her hands outwards, unleashing a heavy wave of fire in Shirou's direction.

"It buuuuuurns!" He let out a scream of (albeit imagined) pain as his body was engulfed by fire. "Hot hot hot hot hot hot hot hot hot HOT!"

 **Shirou: 3000 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4900 LP**

"That's where I will end my turn."

Shirou nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright, not bad for a first move, but now it's my turn! Draw!" Shirou drew the card on top of his deck and added it to his hand.

"I hope you have a tactic in mind, little boy~" Weisse taunted from the sidelines. "It's only been one turn and my Fon-Fon has already created a difference of almost 2000 Life Points. You're going to need something better than what you showed me if you want to close that gap."

"Stay out of it!" Shirou growled back at her.

Weisse shrugged. "Merely offering advice for the hopeless little boy."

"Don't need it! I can win this all on my own!" Shirou scanned the cards in his hand, smirking as a move came to mind. "And now I'm gonna prove it! First off, I summon Marauding Captain in attack mode!" A man in armor wielding two swords appeared onto the field (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 400). "And thanks to his special ability, I get to summon another Level 4 or lower monster from my hand!"

"This seems rather familiar." Weisse noted.

"I said shut it!" Shirou shot back at her before returning his attention to the duel. "Anyway, as I said before, I can summon another monster to the field! So come on out, Mystic Swordsman LV 2!" A small, child-sized samurai appeared on the field, wielding a sword made of light (2/ATK: 900/DEF: 0). "And now I activate the spell card, The A. Forces!" A spell card depicting a band of warriors appeared onto the field. "The A. Forces lets me increase the ATK points of all Warrior-type monsters on the field by 200 points for each Warrior or Spellcaster-type monster I have on the field!" A powerful aura covered Marauding Captain (3/ATK: 1600/DEF: 400) and Mystic Swordsman LV 2 (2/ATK: 1300/DEF: 0).

"I see." Ms. Fontaine said. "From what I remember, Mystic Swordsman LV 2 possesses the ability to evolve after destroying a monster in battle and Marauding Captain's ability draws the attack of any monster targeting a Warrior-type monster. Which means that your Mystic Swordsman will be safe even if I summon out a monster to attack with."

"That _is_ the gist of it, yes." Shirou agreed, not bothering to hide the fact now that the nurse had figured it out.

Spell Absorption became cloaked in sparkling aura once again while Fire Princess was cloaked in flames. "But don't forget both of my cards! Spell Absorption increases my Life Points by 500 while Fire Princess's ability burns away 500 of yours." Fire Princess unleashed yet another blast of scarlet flames, engulfing Shirou in a burning inferno.

Shirou braced himself, groaning as the full effect hit him.

 **Shirou: 2500 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4900 LP**

"Yeah yeah. I get it..." Shirou gestured to his field. "Now, say goodbye to your Fire Princess! Go, Marauding Captain! Take her out!" The knight lunged forward, crossing his swords in an x-shape and swinging violently. His swords cut through Fire Princess as if she were made of butter, the monster letting out a cry of pain before exploding into pixels. "And now time for Mystic Swordsman LV 2 to make a follow-up attack! Go! Mystic Slash!" Mystic Swordsman leaped forward from his space, bringing his sword in a sideways arc across Ms. Fontaine's chest, the woman letting out a scream of surprise as the virtual blade struck her.

 **Shirou: 2500 LP**

 **Fontaine: 3600 LP**

'Good. Now there's only a 1100 Life Points difference.' Shirou thought to himself, relieved. 'Now all I have to do is whittle her Life Points down bit by bit and then I'll get my revenge on Weisse.' Shirou picked a card from his hand and placed it in his spell/trap card zone. "And I end my turn by laying one card face-down." A reverse-card appeared on the field.

* * *

From the sidelines, Weisse did not look impressed in the slightest. She bit the tip of her thumb, glancing back and forth between the two duelists. "He still hasn't learned...Not in the slightest..." She pinched the bridge of her nose, showing exhaustion at the sight.

* * *

"My turn! Draw!" Ms. Fontaine added a card to her hand. "To start off my turn, I'm going to summon a second Fire Princess to the field in attack mode!" A scarlet-clothed woman similar to the previous one appeared onto the field (4/ATK: 1300/DEF: 1500).

Shirou groaned. "Another one?"

"That's right, and that's not all!" Ms. Fontaine played another card from her hand. "Now I play the spell card, Back to Square One!" A green card with the image of a board game on it appeared face-up on the field. "With this card, I can discard one card from my hand and return one monster on your side of the field to the top of your deck! And I'm choosing your Marauding Captain!" The warrior on Shirou's side of the field disappeared into a glowing light, Shirou returning the monster to the top of his deck. "And let's not forget my Spell Absorption or my Fire Princess's special ability. That's 500 more Life Points for me and 500 less for you." Spell Absorption glowed brilliantly, bathing Ms. Fontaine in its light.

Once again, Fire Princess unleashed a heavy blast of fire in Shirou's direction as if to burn him to a crisp.

 **Shirou: 2000 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4100 LP**

"And since you are down one Warrior-type monster, your Mystic Swordsman's ATK points are reduced by 200." It was true. With The A. Forces effect, Mystic Swordsman LV 2's ATK points were only increased by 200 times the number of Warrior-type's on Shirou's field. With Marauding Captain gone, Mystic Swordsman's ATK was reduced to 1100. "If my math is right, then that makes him weaker than my Fire Princess! Now she's free to send him to the graveyard! Attack!" Fire Princess extended her hands once more, unleashing a particularly large ball of fire, this time directed at Shirou's Mystic Swordsman.

The monster was swallowed by an explosive inferno, letting out a feral screech before it shattered into pixels.

Shirou raised his arms to defend against the blast, groaning from the force of the blast.

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4100 LP**

"And I will end my turn with a face-down." A reverse-card appeared on the field.

"My turn!" Shirou drew a card from his deck, knowing full-well what card it would be due to Ms. Fontaine's spell. "And I'm summoning Marauding Captain back to the field!" The warrior once again appeared on the field (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 400). "And let's not forget his special ability which lets me summon one level 4 or lower monster from my hand! And I'm summoning out Big Shield Gardna in defense mode!" A large man with a grizzly mane appeared on Shirou's field, clutching a shield just as large as he was (4/ATK: 100/DEF: 2600). "And don't forget my spell card! Since I have two Warrior-types on the field again, that's 400 more points to their ATK!"

Marauding Captain: (ATK: 1600)

Big Shield Gardna: (ATK: 500)

"And now I'm gonna make a repeat of last time! I attack your Fire Princess with my Marauding Captain!" Marauding Captain lunged forward, crossing his swords in an x-shaped movement straight through Fire Princess, the monster giving the same scream as last time before exploded into fragments.

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 3800 LP**

"With that, I end my turn!"

"My turn." Ms. Fontaine drew a card. "I set one monster face-down." A reverse-card appeared in her monster zone. "That's the end of my turn."

"Draw!" Shirou added another card to his hand. "And now I play [1] Card of Sanctity! With this card, we both draw until we have six cards in our hands!"

Ms. Fontaine smiled. "That's very much appreciated." She gestured to her Spell Absorption. "Of course, I'm referring to the 500 Life Points you just gave me."

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4300 LP**

"You won't be saying that for long!" Shirou placed a card in the spell/trap zone. "I'm activating the spell card, Monster Reborn! With this, I can bring back any monster from either of our graveyards! So return to the stage, Mystic Swordsman LV 2!" The miniature samurai returned to the field (2/ATK: 900/DEF: 0).

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4800 LP**

"And don't forget The A. Forces which is the gift that keeps on giving!"

Marauding Captain: (ATK: 1800)

Big Shield Gardna: (ATK: 700)

Mystic Swordsman LV2: (ATK: 1500)

"That's not all! Now I'm activating the spell card, Reinforcement of the Army!" A spell card depicting a warrior leading his mean in a charge appeared on the field. "And this card allows me to add one level 4 or lower Warrior-type monster from my deck to my hand!"

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 5300 LP**

"And now I'm going to summon out that monster!" Shirou looked through his deck, pulling out a monster before shuffling and returning the deck to its proper space. "Come on out, Marauding Captain!" Another warrior similar to Shirou's other knight appeared on the field (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 300). "As usual, he has his amazing special ability which lets me summon out another level 4 or lower monster from my hand! And I'm going with Command Knight!" A young knight clothed in red appeared on Shirou's side of the field (4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1900). "And this puppy has a pretty nifty ability! Every Warrior-type monster on my field gain an extra 400 ATK points and that's ON TOP OF the ATK points given to my Warriors by The A. Forces!"

Marauding Captain: (ATK: 2600)

Marauding Captain (#2): (ATK: 2600)

Command Knight: (ATK: 2600)

Big Shield Gardna: (ATK: 1500)

Mystic Swordsman LV2: (ATK: 2500)

"And now I switch my Big Shield Gardna to attack mode!" The previously sitting shield-user stood up on both legs. "And now I'm gonna take out your face-down monster with Mystic Swordsman LV2! Go, Mystic Slash!" Shirou's monster leaped forward, swinging his sword wildly about before stabbing downward on Ms. Fontaine's face-down monster card. Shirou glimpsed the faint form of a small, squirrel-like creature before it was cut to pieces by his attacker's blade.

Despite the loss of her only defense, Ms. Fontaine didn't seem fazed in the slightest. If anything, she was amused.

"OK...you're smiling." Shirou noted, stating the obvious. "Why do I get the feeling that that's bad?"

"Oh, it's not bad at all...at least not for me." Ms. Fontaine revealed the monster Shirou had just destroyed. "The monster you defeated with your Silent Swordsman was my Nimble Momonga and his ability activates upon being destroyed."

"Which does what?"

"An explanation has to wait for a few seconds because now I activate my face-down card, the trap card, Chain Healing!" The face-down card in her spell/trap zone flipped face-up, revealing a vial of medicine with chain links attached to it. "This trap card increases my life points by 500."

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 5800 LP**

"And since it was activated as a chain link 2, I can shuffle it back into my deck to be used again later!" The nurse added her trap card back into her deck and shuffled. "But now onto Nimble Momonga's ability. First, I gain 1000 Life Points."

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 6800 LP**

"And then I can summon two more Nimble Momonga's face-down on my field." Two more face-down cards appeared in her monster zone.

Shirou growled in irritation at how many times the nurse had skated around each and every move he made. "Fine. I'll send those other two furballs to join the first one in just a moment!" He gestured to his other monsters. "Big Shield Gardna, Command Knight, take out her remaining two Nimble Momongas!" Big Shield Gardna crushed one of the face-down mammals while Command Knight carved through the other with her sword.

"So an additional 2000 Life Points for me then." There was no way anyone could have missed the increasingly-amused smile on Ms. Fontaine's face.

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 8800 LP**

"And now I'll use my two Marauding Captains to take a huge chunk out of your life points!" The seemingly-duplicated monsters rushed forward, slashing their swords through Ms. Fontaine's chest, the woman recoiling from the shock of the two attacks.

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 3600 LP**

* * *

From the sidelines, Weisse sighed for the umpteenth time since the duel began.

"He walked into trap after trap, trick after trick...does this boy know _anything_ about strategizing?" She acknowledged the significant gap in Life Points the two duelists had possessed only seconds ago and the still-very large gap they possessed now. "...Maybe I had my hopes set to high with this one..."

* * *

"I end my turn by setting one card face-down!" A reverse-card appeared on Shirou's field. "But even though my turn's done, my Mystic Swordsman LV2 isn't! Whenever he destroy's a monster in battle, I can send him to the graveyard to summon an even stronger monster from my deck, Mystic Swordsman LV4!" Mystic Swordsman LV2 was enveloped in a bright light, his silhouette becoming taller and his body becoming more athletic. When the light vanished, yet another Japanese-themed warrior appeared, carrying a dual-sided sword of light (4/ATK: 1900/DEF: 1600). "And of course there's my spell card along with Command Knight's ability."

Mystic Swordsman LV4: (ATK: 3300)

"And that's where I'll end things."

"Then this is where I start my turn." Ms. Fontaine drew a card and added it to her hand. "And now I activated the spell card, Dian Keto the Cure Master, which increases my life points by 1000, added to an additional 500 life points from my Spell Absorption."

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 5100 LP**

"Then I activate the spell card, Reload." A spell with the image of an Egyptian-themed gun of sorts appeared on the field.

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 5600 LP**

"With this card, I can shuffle my hand into my deck and then draw the same number of cards. Think of it as a change in prescriptions." Ms. Fontaine drew four cards after shuffling her previous hand back into her deck. She smiled at the hand she drew. "And now I'm going to summon out a monster! Come out, Injection Fairy Lily!" A pink-haired angel appeared, dressed in a nurse's outfit and carrying a large needle in her arms (3/ATK: 400/DEF: 1500). "And now I activate the spell card, Rain of Mercy, which increases both of our life points by 1000, and another 500 for me thanks to Spell Absorption!"

 **Shirou: 2800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 7100 LP**

"And I activate another Dian Keto the Cure Master to give me another boost!"

 **Shirou: 2800 LP**

 **Fontaine: 8600 LP**

Shirou groaned from increasing-frustration. "Oh come on! How many times are you gonna keep doing that!? This trick is really starting to get old!"

"Don't worry. It will all be over soon. I end my turn with a face-down." A reverse-card appeared on her field.

Shirou didn't like the way she said that, but he continued regardless. "My turn." He drew a card, showing significantly less energy due to his opponent's repetitive strategy. "I don't know why you summoned out such a weak monster, but what I do know is that she's gonna be torn to shreds! Go, Marauding Captain-"

"I activate my trap card!" Ms. Fontaine revealed her face-down card taking the appearance of a collar with fire spewing out of it. "Ring of Destruction! With this trap card, I can destroy one monster on your side of the field whose original attack is less than your life points and that attack power is deducted from both of our life points. And I will use it on one of your Marauding Captains!"

"What?!"

A heavy metal collar dropped onto one of the Marauding Captain's head, sliding around his neck. He struggled violently against the collar, but it suddenly expanded, unleashing a powerful explosion as it self-destructed, taking the monster along with it.

Both Shirou and Ms. Fontaine shielded their faces against the heavy gusts produced by the monster's destruction.

 **Shirou: 1600 LP**

 **Fontaine: 7400 LP**

"And with that, your monsters' ATK power drop by 200 each!"

Marauding Captain: (ATK: 2400)

Command Knight: (ATK: 2400)

Big Shield Gardna: (ATK: 1300)

Mystic Swordsman LV4: (ATK: 3100)

"Fine! But I'm still gonna take out your little fairy! Go, Command Knight!" The red-clothed warrior leaped forward, sword raised to cut through Ms. Fontaine's monster.

"Sorry, but I'm going to activate my monster's ability!"

"AGAIN!?" Shirou somewhat expected her response though. An effect was something she would do, as Shirou had realized by that point.

"That's right, "again". Lily's ability allows me to pay 2000 of my life points when she's attacking or is attacked, and I get to increase her ATK points by 3000!"

 **Shirou: 1600 LP**

 **Fontaine: 5400 LP**

Injection Fairy Lily's giant needle became even larger than before despite how impossible such an event had seemed, the monster seeming to struggle with its weight.

Injection Fairy Lily: (ATK: 3400)

"3400 ATK points!? But that's greater than Command Knight's!"

"Exactly, which means it won't be my monster being send to the grave this battle!" Injection Fairy Lily flew high into the air, flying above Command Knight's intended path before letting herself drop to the ground, crushing Command Knight underneath her needle's mass.

A light groan escaped Shirou's lips as his life points took another hit.

 **Shirou: 600 LP**

 **Fontaine: 5400 LP**

The monster's needle gradually shrank back to it's original size.

Injection Fairy Lily: (ATK: 400)

"This time, with Command Knight gone, your monsters lose 600 ATK points!"

Marauding Captain: (ATK: 1800)

Big Shield Gardna: (ATK: 700)

Mystic Swordsman LV4: (ATK: 2500)

"You could try attacking again, but attempting something like that will only result in you losing more life points than you can afford." Ms. Fontaine explained politely.

"I don't need the advice!" Shirou snapped, hating how he had been cornered once again. "Fine...I'll switch Big Shield Gardna, Mystic Swordsman LV4, and Marauding Captain to defense mode. That's all."

"My turn. Draw!" Ms. Fontaine drew another card. "And now I pay another 2000 life points to increase her attack by 3000 for her next attack!"

 **Shirou: 600 LP**

 **Fontaine: 3400 LP**

Injection Fairy Lily: (ATK: 3400)

"And this time, I will destroy the only monster I can due to your Marauding Captain's special ability!" Injection Fairy Lily flew high into the air, flying above Marauding Captain before letting herself drop to the ground, crushing yet another monster belonging to Shirou.

Injection Fairy Lily returned to her starting position.

Of course, Shirou's monsters lost more ATK points as a result.

Big Shield Gardna: (ATK: 500)

Mystic Swordsman LV4: (ATK: 2300)

"And I end my turn."

Shirou silently drew a card, adding it to his hand. 'This sucks. Even if I can keep summoning out monsters, she'll just keep boosting her life points. And thanks to her Injection Fairy Lily, none of my monsters can attack without being destroyed, taking the last of my life points with them...' He glimpsed at the other side of the field. 'But what do I have to work with...?...I wonder...' Shirou decided to chance it. "The stage is set...IIIIIIIIt's showtime! I activate the spell card, Emblem of the Dragon Destroyer, a card which lets me add one Buster Blader from my deck to my hand!"

 **Shirou: 600 LP**

 **Fontaine: 3900 LP**

Shirou took a card from his deck and added it to his hand. "And now I'm going to sacrifice my Big Shield Gardna and my Mystic Swordsman so I can summon him out!" Big Shield Gardna and Mystic Swordsman LV4 vanished in a brilliant light, giving way to a familiar warrior wielding a massive sword (7/ATK: 2600/DEF: 2300). "And he gains another 200 ATK points because he's a Warrior-type."

Buster Blader: (ATK: 2800)

"Why would you give up your defense for a monster who still doesn't have the power to destroy Lily at full power?" Fontaine asked, eyeing Buster Blader cautiously.

"Because of this card I'm setting now," A reverse-card appeared on Shirou's field, "will be the one that turns things around. I end my turn."

Ma. Fontaine drew a card. "If that face-down is so important, then I suppose I'll destroy it!" She looked at her hand. "And I will do it with this! Mystical Space Typhoon!" A spell card with the image of a giant man wielding a sword appeared onto the field.

 **Shirou: 600 LP**

 **Fontaine: 4400 LP**

"With Mystical Space Typhoon, I can destroy any one spell or trap card on the field!"

"That's...what I was hoping for! I knew you'd call my bluff, just not this soon!" Shirou smirked as his card flew face-up, revealing an explosive with a metal chain wrapped around it. "I activate my trap card, Blast with Chain! I can equip it to any monster on my side of the field and they get a 500 point boost to their ATK power!" A heavy chain wrapped around Buster Blader's arm, bringing an explosive power with it.

Buster Blader: (ATK: 3300)

"Of course, thanks to Mystical Space Typhoon, Buster Blader's new toy gets iced." A heavy, twister-like body of wind blew across Shirou's field, causing Buster Blader to lose his grip on Blast with Chain, the "equip trap card" shattering to pieces.

Buster Blader: (ATK: 2800)

"What was the point then?"

"Blast with Chain's special ability!" Shirou answered. "When it, as an equip card, is destroyed by a card effect, it takes another card out with it. And guess who the lucky winner is?" Shirou pointed at the sole monster on Ms. Fontaine's field.

"But that means-!"

"Say goodbye to Injection Fairy Lily!" Blast with Chain's card appeared on the field again, firing the heavy explosive as if it were a harpoon. Injection Fairy Lily's eyes went wide in horror before it made contact, taking her out in a fiery explosion. "If you have any move to make after that, I would love to see it!"

Ms. Fontaine looked from her empty field to the one card in her hand, an expression of disappointment appearing on her face. "No...I end my turn..."

"Then it's my turn once again! Draw!" Shirou added another card to his hand. "And as part of my final turn, I'm going to summon out Alexandrite Dragon!" His favorite, gem-covered dragon appeared on the field in all of its glory (4/ATK: 2000/DEF: 100). "And two attacks are all it takes to put an end to things! Go, Buster Blader, Alexandrite Dragon! Finish this!" Buster Blader charged forward, bringing his sword across Ms. Fontaine's chest, eliciting a sharp scream.

 **Shirou: 600 LP**

 **Fontaine: 1600 LP**

Alexandrite Dragon followed up with a powerful, high-energy beam-like breath attack, Ms. Fontaine being consumed by a brilliant light, only her final scream being heard and only her silhouette being seen until the light finally cleared.

 **Shirou: 600 LP**

 **Fontaine: 0 LP**

The holograms vanished after Ms. Fontaine's life points hit 0, leaving just a student and a teacher standing across from one another.

Ms. Fontaine sighed, realizing her loss. "While I am disappointed for having lost, you beat me fair and square."

Shirou stretched his arms, smiling cheerfully. "It wasn't too bad. Your strategy was amazing and I only won because I have a good poker face. If you hadn't used Mystical Space Typhoon, things would have turned out much differently." And deep down, that fact irritated the hell out of him. "Uh...Ms. Fontaine?" He cautiously walked closer to her, prepared for any response.

The nurse looked far more disappointed then she let on. "Oh, it's nothing...I just thought I was finally going to get the money Alicia owed me..."

For someone as young as Shirou, he could not quite understand what the big deal was initially. "How much does she owe you anyway...?" Ms. Fontaine sighed again before leaning in and whispering into Shirou's ear. His eyes went wide with shock when the nurse moved away, looking just as forlorn as before. "...why have you not gone all "Loan Shark" on her yet? More importantly, who could possibly eat that much food?! You'd have to be a garbage disposal!"

* * *

Elsewhere, Jaden Yuki sneezed.

* * *

Shirou placed his hands on his hips. "...that's a real bummer..." It was yet another reason why Shirou had to get his "revenge" on Weisse. People like her were a drain on the economy. He would defeat her not just for himself, but for society! "Well, now that I've won, it's time to pay up on our deal, Weisse!" Shirou turned on his heels, pointing an accusing finger towards the sidelines. "No backing ou..." He trailed off, noticing the complete lack of human life aside from him and Ms. Fontaine.

"Huh..." Ms. Fontaine said almost to herself. "I could have sworn she was here earlier..."

"Where did she go...?" Shirou scanned around the room, only stopping when his eyes fell upon an unfamiliar dry-erase board on one side of the tennis court. Both he and Ms. Fontaine approached the board, leaning in closely.

"There's something written here."

"Yeah..."

It read:

 _To whomever won the duel,_

 _I have gone away on business and will not be back for several days...or however long it takes for you to forget this, whichever comes first. I promise to be back at my earliest convenience in order to give you the duel/repay the money I promised. Your patience is very much appreciated._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Alicia Weisse_

Words could not even begin to describe the amount of raw anger, irritation, and frustration Shirou felt at that moment. "That...ROTTEN, LITTLE-"

"And there's more..." Ms. Fontaine pointed out, pointing to the second message underneath

It read:

 _P.S._

 _Thanks for distracting the little boy long enough for me to escape, Fon-Fon~ Dueling such a child would have been a waste of my time._

Next to it was a crude, childish drawing of Weisse's smiling face with a hand giving a peace sign next to it.

Shirou clenched his fist tightly, his nails digging into the palm of his hands while his body betrayed trembling. Ms. Fontaine closed her eyes in an expression of of passive anger, her left eye twitching slightly. She crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her foot impatiently against the ground.

There was a light whistle as Shirou took a long, deep breath of air, inflating his lungs to their maximum capacity.

"DAMN THAT WOMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

In the midst of that night's events, Shirou had completely forgotten about the fifteen-page assignment he had due in the morning.

* * *

 **Finished.**

 **For those of you who read my fic Sorry, Babe, I Just Ain't That Kind of Hero...sorry. I tried writing in first person POV and remembered how much it sucked. So I have to rewrite the chapter.**

 **Thanks for the reads and reviews!**


	4. Arc 1 - Turn 4: Exam Day

**Aaaaaand we are back! I promise to get another chapter of DxD worked out soon (next chapter of Devil Reborn is about over 5000 words strong), but I wanted to keep the momentum going so I didn't completely forget about this. That would have suuuuucked. I know we don't want me to slip into another several-month-long hiatus with this story...so it's best to keep the juices cooking.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. If I did, I would have probably known how to create a proper deck :P.**

* * *

 **Arc 1 - Turn 4: Exam Day**

 _The scene played as though being hit by constant static interference, like a TV with a bad antenna. Despite this, Shirou managed to discern various features of the landscape around him, something that normally wouldn't have been possible in normal circumstances._

 _It was so bizarre...a place that Shirou was certain he had never seen before. A rocky wasteland shrouded in dark mist, large mountains and cliffs stretching into the moon-less sky above, giving the sky a far more ominous appearance than it already would have had. When he had first entered this unfamiliar territory, he had half-expected this to be another ridiculous, nonsensical dream like he had had the previous night, but something was definitely different from before. Something about this dream just didn't sit right with him._

 _The air was thick and almost un-breathable and the ground felt so real underneath his feet. Above all else, there was the heavy atmosphere weighing down on him, threatening to crush him beneath its mass. Each passing second was in itself was tormenting. He felt as if a prolonged period of time spent in that place would have reduced him to less than nothing if it didn't completely shatter his mind first. Whatever that place was, Shirou could not help but compare it to the deepest pits of Hell._

 _He could not suppress the growing feeling of nausea in his stomach._

 _For a dream-no-"nightmare", everything felt so disturbingly real._

 _"Shirou won't fail!"_

 _Shirou, or what he thought was a mental projection of his body, stiffened at the sound of a voice. He couldn't believe anything, let alone a human, could breathe in this place let alone speak._

 _He turned his head in the direction of the voice, trying to discern the identity of its owner. However, it was increasingly complicated due to the lack of proper focus in anything he saw._

 _There were two forms._

 _One of them was notably human...wearing a tattered cloak over his body, covering most of his features. Shirou tried walking in front of him to glimpse his face, but everything around that area had turned into more static than before. It was as if the dream itself was trying to disguise the man's identity. However, just that wasn't what drew Shirou's attention. There was something else far more noticeable._

 _The worn Duel Disk on the man's arm._

 _And it was active. Which meant that he was in the middle of a duel judging from the unfamiliar monster on his field and the face-down card in his spell/trap zone. He was definitely dueling someone._

 _'But...with who...?' Shirou asked himself. And it was only then that Shirou realized it._

 _The epicenter of the darkness that shrouded this barren land, the source of the heavy, soul-crushing world he was in._

 _This source, of course, being the humongous mass of shadows towering over him and the man. It was at least twice the size of Duel Academy and more fearsome than any monster Shirou had in his deck. If it had wanted to, it could have killed him just by stepping on him._

 ** _"You are a_ _fool..."_** _An ominous, inhuman voice spoke, answering the man's previous declaration. **"Even if you win this battle, that brat is no match for the trials to come! Darkness will overwhelm your world!"** There was a high-pitched squeal, like a microphone brushing up against the speaker it's connected to combined with a heavy, throaty growl that Shirou eventually came to realize was "laughter". **"Of course, not that you will live to see any of it happen...I will end you here! My power far surpasses any pathetic monster you could ever summon!"**_

 _Shirou couldn't see his face, but he was certain the man was smirking. "Haven't you heard the saying "Pride cometh before the fall"? Well I believe that wraps this situation up quite nicely!" He motioned to the monster on his field. "And now I release my Kuraz, so I can summon out an even stronger monster!" Shirou felt the ground beneath his feet tremble violently, believing for a moment that this was the power of the shadow demon. Then he realized that the man was still smirking. "Come forth,_ _Zaborg the Mega Monarch!"_

 _With those words, a massive creature rose from the cracking ground, completely shattering the earth with its mass. It was a giant, silver-armored being with two purplish horns protruding from his shoulders, wearing a tiger-skin mantle and a blue mane coming from his metal mask (8/ATK: 2800/DEF: 1000)._

 _ **"IMPOSSIBLE!"**_

 _"Afraid it ain't, _" Shirou frowned. When the man spoke a name, the static became louder in his ears, as if preventing any attempt to listen in. "Thanks to Zaborg's ability, I can summon him using only one tribute as long as the monster I used was also a tribute summon! And that's not all! He also has a second ability! When he's summoned out, I get to destroy one monster on the field! And guess who the lucky winner is!" Zaborg held out his hands, gathering a massive amount of electrical energy into a ball before unleashing it in the direction of the beast, releasing a powerful explosion of light that ripped through the shadow's form._

 ** _"Nooooo!"_** _The massive beast roared in agony and rage, writhing from the apparent pain caused by the light. **"I was so close! I will not be denied!"**_

 _"Sorry, but it looks like your Shadow Realm will be staying right here, _! I won't let you lay a hand on our world!" The man jabbed a finger in the shadow's direction. "And with your only monster gone, you're wide open! So go on, Zaborg! End him once and for all!"_

 _Again, the behemoth of a monster build up a high electric charge, discharging it in a high-power beam._

 _The shadow demon recoiled from its power. **"You may defeat me here, but my power will not wane...I will shroud your world in darkness and destroy each and every one of your kin! As long as darkness exists in this world, you cannot destroy me!"**_

 _"Enough with the cliche "evil villain" spiel!" The man said. "Disappear!"_

 _The beam ripped through the shadow as if it were made of paper, scattering its essence around the entire area, spreading across the ground around Shirou._

 _The man clicked his tongue. "He couldn't go quietly...I'd better leave!" Before Shirou could object, the man ran off, doing his best to avoid touching the tainted ground._

 _Shirou was not so lucky. The ground around him was gradually eaten away by the shadows, circling around his legs._

 _At first, he thought he could jump out from the darkness, but it latched onto his legs, dragging him deeper and deeper down. First it was at knee-level, then waist-level, then chest, then shoulder, and eventually Shirou was completely buried beneath the remnants of the massive shadow_

 _He couldn't speak, he couldn't even breathe._

 _His vision started going dark..._

 _Going...Going...Gone..._

* * *

"WAH!"

Shirou sat up so suddenly that he got caught on his sheets, tripping and falling right over the side of his bed. He got tangled up in his sheets, struggling violently in a panic when his vision was covered by darkness. For a moment, he thought he was still in that hellish landscape, being devoured by the shadow. He fought with the sheet for five minutes before realizing that he could breathe again.

He threw off the sheet, acknowledging the sunlight pouring in through the window. He let out a sigh of relief at the familiar sight of his dorm room.

He was back in his room and not in...wherever that was.

The sound of his heart pounding against his rib cage was all he could hear in his solitude, racing at even the memory of that horrifying place.

"Well...that was frickin' ominous." Shirou noted. "But...who was that guy? What was that _thing_?" More and more questions piled on top of one another inside of the snow-haired boy's brain, not a single one of them having an answer. He sighed. "What am I doing?...It was just a stupid dream..." And then, as an afterthought, 'Which reminds me...I'm awake now...'

The young man's body stiffened, his head turning slowly for his eyes to look at the clock.

It read: 8:18

Shirou stared silently.

.

.

.

"I'm gonna be late...AGAIN!" Another pause brought another realization. "AND IT'S EXAM DAY TODAY!"

* * *

Shirou was still putting on his shoes when he came out of his room, half-running/half-hopping as fast as he could. He had been late many times in his life, but never on an important day like that one. Ever since he had gotten to Duel Academy, he had received nothing but bad luck, as if he had been cursed or had been carrying around some sort of occult misfortune charm. Still, he would persevere. He refused to let something like bad luck knock him around-

"Wah!"

"Ow!"

That was what he had been thinking when his occupied state caused a collision with a fellow student, both of their masses knocking the other to the ground.

"Sorry!" Shirou apologized, bowing his head. "I was just running a little late and not really paying attention!"

"You too, huh?" A familiar voice asked, his typical good cheer in his words. Shirou looked up to see Jaden Yuki smiling like he had no cares in the world. "Guess I'm not the only one who slept in!"

Shirou looked around. "Hey, where's Syrus?"

"Oh, he probably went on ahead." Jaden answered casually. "We should probably hit the road, too, before we miss exams."

The size of plates would probably efficiently describe how wide Shirou's eyes went as he remembered why he was in a rush in the first place. "Oh crap!" Without thinking, he grabbed Jaden by the wrist and burst into a sprint, dragging Jaden along for the ride. "We have to get going before we're late!" Jaden could only make a light grunting sound as most of his focus was devoted to not tripping and ending up being dragged along with his face grinding against the ground.

Despite the added weight, Shirou ran far faster than Jaden ever could have on his own.

A trip that normally would have taken fifteen to thirty minutes would probably be cut short to less than ten.

Well, it would have if it hadn't been for the unscheduled "stop".

"Come on, Jaden!" Shirou called out. "We're almost there!" He could see the main building over the slope of the hill. He glimpsed a lone figure, a middle-aged woman who appeared to be trying to push her van uphill, an incredibly difficult task for one person. However, Shirou had been in too much of a rush to even process the sight, rushing past. Ahuge cloud of dirt was kicked up from the dry ground as he ran by.

He approximated that it would have taken at least five more minutes to reach the main building...

That was, until Jaden stamped his feet into the ground like a foldhold, hitting Shirou with enough of a resistance force that he was jerked right off his feet, almost falling back against the ground. He turned around to face Jaden, having let go of his arm.

"You saw her." It was neither a question nor an accusation.

Shirou groaned, looking from the ever-so-close Duel Academy to the kind-looking old woman struggling to push a van. "But...we're going to be late!"

"True..." Jaden agreed, considering Shirou's point. The pair weighed their two choices. "The real question is if we should be on-time to school or should we be gentleman?" Shirou hesitated, looking away. Jaden grinned, poking Shirou in the face. "Come oooon. You know it's the right thing to do."

When Jaden said it like that, Shirou could not help but feel that any answer but the most obvious one would have made him feel like a jerk. "Damn...why did you have to go and bring morality into the mix?" Despite this, Shirou also found himself smiling from the good vibes coming off of Jaden. Following after his classmate, Shirou ran back to the poor woman trying to singlehandedly push her van.

"Never fear! Jaden is here!" Jaden moved behind the van, slowly beginning to push.

Shirou took a position next to him, sighing. "I don't have anything as energetic or whimsical to say, but I'm here, too." Shirou also began to push on the van.

"Oh thank you!" The lady said in gratitude. "You must be from the auto club!"

"Don't let the red jacket fool you!" Jaden said cheerfully. "We're just your average good deed dudes!" While saying this, he unintentionally let go of the van. Shirou groaned at the sudden extra weight his body was forced to carry while pushing the van.

The woman smiled. "Isn't that nice!" The van suddenly slid back several inches.

"It would be _really nice_ , Jay, if you could actually HELP!"

"Right, right! Sorry!" Jaden suddenly rushed back to the van, helping to continue push it forward.

"Thank you, boys. Thank you very much!"

Jaden continued to grin. "Hey, it's my pleasure! Now I can skip gym!" He laughed.

"As for me? I'm just a slave to my conscience I guess." Shirou sighed, giving a small smile.

"You're such sweet boys!" The woman praised, smiling brightly as the work of pushing was split between the three of them. "I'll remember this!"

"How about next time, you just remember that extended warrant?" Jaden suggested in jest.

They continued pushing the van together until they finally managed to get it over the slope, at which point the woman said she could handle the rest, the hardest part having been over and done with. Jaden and Shirou insisted that they help the woman for the last leg of the trip, but she pretty much insisted they returned to their classes.

Thus, they all bid farewell and Shirou and Jaden headed off to class, Shirou hoping with all of his might that he would have enough time to complete the written part of the exam.

* * *

"All right class. The written exam is over." Professor Banner announced. "You may now walk-not run-to get in line for today's new rare cards."

"They're here!?" one of the students asked, suddenly standing.

"Oh dear."

Molding together into one, massive mob, all of the students of Professor Banner's class ran out of the classroom, eager to get their hands on the new card shipment. There was no real unity though, many of the students tripping over one another and stepping over the students who fell to the ground without a single care of safety. The classroom emptied until only a handful of students remained who were either indifferent to the news of the cards (about one or two people), sleeping (in Jaden and Syrus's cases)...or if they were Shirou.

It was as if the world had started crumbling around him. Shirou just sat in his seat, laying his head flat on his deck with a soulless expression on his face. It felt as if the will to live had drained right out of him, leaving him as nothing more than an empty husk who could do nothing but go through the motions of living.

"I failed...I can't believe I failed..."

"Well, it was more along the lines of "incomplete" if that makes you feel any better." said an unfamiliar voice in an equally unfamiliar British accent. "Look on the bright side: You likely did better than these two over here." Shirou barely picked his head up to look at the young man who spoke to him, noticing only his combed, black hair, Ra Yellow jacket, and the air of a scholar he carried about him.

Shirou had no idea who he was or why he was talking to him. "I barely got halfway finished...There's no way I scored high enough to pass."

"Then I suppose you will have to make up the difference with the practical exam." The Ra Yellow student suggested. "If you hurry, you could use one of the new rare packs to enhance your own deck."

"I don't know about that...guy..." Shirou answered awkwardly, uncertain about how to address the young man.

"Ah apologies." He extended his hand. "Bastion Misawa."

"Shirou Fujimura." Deciding to return the courtesy, Shirou extended his own hand and shook Bastion's, awkwardly retracting his hand after a few seconds.

"And on the matter of rare cards," The newly introduced Bastion turned to the sleeping Syrus and Jaden, nudging them calmly, "you two might want to give some serious thought to waking up."

Syrus woke up with a start, immediately alarmed about how he had just been asleep. "Ahh man! I flunked didn't I? I'm a complete failure."

"Sy, if we were graded on melodrama you'd get a perfect score." Jaden gave a light yawn as he woke. He looked around, realizing their classmates were gone.

Syrus suddenly froze, alarmed. "Hey, where's everybody else?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." Bastion gestured to the nearly-empty classroom. "The new cards arrived today and everyone's at the card shop."

"WHAT!?" Syrus screamed with a banshee-like pitch. "New cards?! How come no one told us!?"

Shirou leaned on his arm, sighing. "Probably for the practical part of the exam." He answered. "New cards means new, stronger strategies. New, stronger strategies mean flashier ways to K.O. opposing duelists. Ergo, everyone's all but killing each other for first crack at those new cards." If anyone had been paying attention to his tone, they would have noticed the high level of indifference in his voice. "Which brings up the question of why a model student like yourself wouldn't be jumping in line? Don't you need new cards?"

From the smile on Bastion's face, one would have thought that Shirou had said something funny. "Oh please. One card out of place and my deck's delicate balance would be completely off."

"Mine wouldn't!" Syrus cried.

"So let's go." Jaden said. "There's nothing sweeter than the smell of new cards in the morning!"

With that, he and Syrus ran out of the room, leaving Shirou dejected and alone with the person he presumed to be a know-it-all. It was a rather awkward silence for Shirou because he was never good with meeting new people. He usually tried to wait for someone else to make the first move. It was a major reason it had been hard for him to make friends back in grade school. He was always that "weird kid in the corner of the room". After a brief silence, it would be Bastion who spoke first.

"I'm surprised you yourself aren't knocking people to the side to get some of those rare cards." Bastion noted, interested. "I've seen you duel and your tactics and deck leave a lot to be desired."

The air went colder than ice, Shirou's blank stare managing to pierce the deepest parts of Bastion's being. "And what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Bastion did not seem fronted in the slightest by Shirou's hostile tone. "What I mean is that I was one of those who watched your duel at the entrance exam and, sufficed to say, I was horribly underwhelmed by your rather vulgar tactics." Shirou briefly contemplated slapping Bastion across the face. "It was clear from the get-go that the difference in skill between duelists was great and you clearly put no thought into any of your moves other than the current one. On top of that, you have no chemistry with that deck of yours from what I saw."

Shirou stared. "How _dare_ you!" Shirou stood from his seat, jabbing a finger into Bastion's rather thin frame. "Who the _hell_ do you-" He froze. He had a weird chill go down his spine. He scanned their surroundings.

"What's wrong?" Bastion asked, frowning.

"...Huh? Nothin...Just thought somebody was watching me for a sec there..." Whatever it was, Shirou felt the feeling pass. "Let's see...where was I...?...Oh yeah! Who the _hell_ do you think you are insulting my deck?"

"An insult was not intended." Bastion replied. "I was merely pointing out how your deck clearly has no strategy in mind. It is just mindless summoning and stalling. Your "tactics" are too rigid with no thought put into them."

Immediately, Shirou's mind thought back to certain individuals, people who have said words just like Bastion's, the most prevalent being an obnoxious blonde woman with her hair styled in drills. Every last one of them had told him the same words, calling the deck he created with a soul like his father's "garbage", "worthless", and "useless"...Every last one of them, he hated. He refused to let people talk crap about the deck inspired by his father's strength.

Shirou bared his teeth. "You know what, Misawa? You're kind of startin' to piss me off."

Bastion shrugged, ignoring Shirou's hostility. "I was merely offering advice." With that, he left, leaving Shirou to fume alone.

His anger was so great that he hadn't realized he missed the timing for his hostile response. "I don't need your advice!"

And somehow, he found himself alone.

He would have loved to simmer down, but he had no time to relax. After all, the practical exams still laid on the path ahead.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Shirou half-stomped/half-walked out of the classroom, as if he were trying to vent his frustration on the floor by beating it with his feet. Every time he thought back to what Bastion said, his frustration just grew more and more intense. He was so focused on the numerous ways he could have punched Bastion in the face that he failed to notice where he was walking, roughly bumping into some older man, knocking him to the ground.

"Watch where you're going, you Slifer Slacker!" The older man shouted at him with a voice that Shirou found eerily familiar. He couldn't discern the man's form or his face because they were both hidden underneath black cloth. "Now look what you've done!" Shirou's eyes wandered over to the floor, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

And that was about when he noticed all of the cards laying scattered across the floor.

"Oh, my bad." Shirou apologized halfheartedly. He didn't particularly care about this rude stranger, but he decided that, since he was the cause for the spilled cards in the first place, it would have been rude to not help. "Let me get those for you." Shirou picked up three or four cards, raising an eyebrow when he got a good look at them. They were hardly the garden-variety duel monster's cards. Some of them were serious level 5+ monsters while others were very powerful spell or trap cards. "Aren't these...?"

The man suddenly stiffened. "Give me those!" He lashed out, snatching the cards back from Shirou's hands before sliding his arms back into his large cloak. "You had best where you're going or I'll have you thrown into detention!" Without giving so much as a "thank you", the familiar-seeming man walked swiftly away.

"Prick." Shirou muttered under his breath, irked by how he was faced with insult after insult that day. Then his eyes wandered back to the ground, where an unfamiliar-looking monster card laid. "Hey! You forgot your-!" But the man was already gone, leaving the card on the ground without any owner. Shirou briefly considered taking the monster for his own, but then decided against it. Shirou Fujimura was many things, but he wasn't a thief. "Geez...I can't believe I'm going to return this to that jerk."

He picked the card up and got a good look at it, the image depicting a small, blue dragon with a rather adorable appearance.

"Huh...Never heard of this monster." Shirou was about to place the card in his pocket when something caught his eye. It happened in a split second, but he was almost positive he had seen it.

A blink.

It appeared as though the image had blinked at him.

Shirou's heart skipped several beats until he shook the preposterous thought out of his head. It was stupid.

It was just a card.

This is what he thought, ignoring the transparent form fading into existence behind him, flapping his tiny wings softly as he looked at Shirou from afar.

* * *

Elsewhere in Duel Academy, there was one young man with a similar feeling of irritation albeit for completely different reasons. This young man possessed ridiculously spiky black hair and wore a dark-blue coat belonging to that of an Obelisk Blue student. He carried himself with a mix of pride and arrogance, pushing aside anybody who got in his way as if they were insects.

This young man was Chazz Princeton.

Chazz walked through the halls, considering preparations for his own practical exam, tailed by two other Obelisk Blue students, Raizou Mototani and Taiyou Torimaki.

"And then this guy shows up and takes all the new cards!" Taiyou complained. "I mean every one!"

"So we couldn't get you any Chazz." Raizou stated. "Sorry."

However, each and every last one of their words were ear-grating and annoying, Chazz's patience quickly being worn thin. "You know what's sorry?" Chazz asked rhetorically. "You guys! That's what! But it doesn't matter. Because not one duelist can beat me no matter what card he has!"

"Unless that duelist happens to be Jaden Yuki," A fourth voice interjected.

Chazz turned to face the person addressing him, facing an older man covered in black cloth standing at the top of the stairs. "Who's there?"

"Someone who suspects you hate Jaden as much as I do."

"That's the sticky fingers who took all the rare cards!" Taiyou shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the man. It was irritating just remembering the event, how even the Obelisk Blue students, some of the most academically superior students in all of Duel Academy, were denied the rare cards that would have put them even further above those who were part of Ra Yellow or the Slifer Slackers.

The man smirked underneath his hat. "Cards? What cards? Oh! You mean these cards." The man opened up his coat, revealing rows and rows of cards lined up against the back of his cape as if they were taped there.

Taiyou and Raizou stared in awe and shock.

"Wow, now _that's_ style!"

"Talk about having a card up your sleeve."

The man cackled, amused by their responses. "What's wrong? Don't you recognize me? How about now?" With a dramatic sweep of his arm, the man threw off his cloak and hat, revealing his mid-length blonde hair and (very unsightly) effeminate face.

[Crowler!?]

"You know you looked better all covered up." Chazz commented.

Crowler almost face-faulted before quickly recovering his wits, clearing his throat. "Yes, well I have a plan that will make us all look better. And make Jaden Yuki look like the cut rate duelist he really is. I want you to be his opponent for his field test. And to use these rare cards to beat him!"

"But we're not in the same dorm!" Chazz pointed out, expression his own frustration over the fact. "They won't let me be his test opponent."

"They?" Crowler parroted. "I am they. I'll make it happen. You just make sure to use these rare cards to put that Slifer in his place in front of the entire academy." He cocked his head back, letting out hyena-like laughter at his joy of his "flawless" plan coming together. He saw it in Chazz's eyes. There was no need for further convincing. He was probably in the moment the possibility of Jaden being humiliated in front of everyone came into play.

His plan was perfect. _Absolutely perfect_. There was nothing that could possibly prove to be a flaw in his masterful planning.

This was what he thought, unaware of the young, skinny brunette who had looked on during the entire exchange, her long, thick hair completely blocking most of the scar tissue that covered the left side of her face, only a vague hint being shown. She cautiously slipped her cellphone back into her dark-blue skirt's pocket.

She had all that she needed in order to get what she wanted.

"...Fujimura...Shirou..."

* * *

"Well, this is certainly interesting." Shirou noted, looking over the railing that separated the stands from the Dueling Arena, staring at the spectacle unfolding in front of him. He stood next to Bastion and Syrus in the stands, looking at one of their fellow Slifers standing in the middle of the Duel Arena with a dumb expression on his face as he stared in shock at the Obelisk student standing across from him.

In case it wasn't obvious, the Slifer student was Jaden. And the Obelisk student was Chazz.

Shirou only recently learned who Chazz was from Syrus and how he and Jaden had had a duel before with no outcome (on the night that Shirou had been robbed by monkeys).

"I'm dueling an Obelisk?!" Jaden exclaimed in shock. "And it's Chazz?!"

"That's right, Jaden." Crowler confirmed, walking to the center of the arena. "Since you always _talk_ such a big game, I pulled some strings for you so you got the challenge you deserved! So congratulations! You'll be dueling one of the top-ranked students in the school. What an honor! I certainly hope you were able to snag a lot of today's rare cards so that your deck will be up to snuff!" The overly-happy smile on Crowler's face gave Shirou the feeling that something was up. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to thank me?"

'I've got a ba-a-d feeling about this.' Syrus thought to himself.

'This is clearly a trap.' Bastion thought with similar sentiments. 'Only a cavalier fool would agree to it.'

'If this isn't some sort of trap, then my name's Josephine...And thank God it's not.' Shirou laid his head on the railing, staring intently at the arena before him. "Jaden seems like the dense type, but even he's not that stupid, right, Sy?"

"I'll do it!" Jaden shouted with excitement.

"Well, I've been wrong before."

Jaden activated his Duel Disk. "All right Chazz, get your game on! Let's finish what we started at Obelisk Arena!"

Shirou straightened up, turning to Syrus. "Oh yeah, I've been forgetting to ask. How did that turn out?"

Syrus scratched his cheek nervously. "Well...I guess it could be considered a technical draw, but-"

However, the sound of the duel quickly became the center of attention.

[Duel!]

 **Jaden: 4000 LP**

 **Chazz: 4000 LP**

"Bring it, Slifer slacker!" Chazz taunted.

"Oh, it is brought!" Jaden said, drawing a card from his deck. "You remember this guy, dontcha, Chazz? From our first match? Elemental Hero Clayman!" The earthen warrior knelt to the floor (4/ATK: 800/DEF: 2000). "He'd like to get reacquainted."

"Not after he sees what I got for him!" Chazz chuckled.

* * *

Shirou frowned from the sidelines. "Huh...come to think of it, I don't think I've actually _seen_ Jaden duel yet."

It seemed that his words seemed to have caught Syrus's attention, the blue-haired boy smiling slightly. "Well, then you haven't seen anything yet. Jay's duel's are pretty awesome, especially with the Elemental Hero deck he uses!"

"Uh huh..." Shirou rubbed his chin before turning back to the duel. "I guess I'll have to see this for myself." He could not help but feel curious. He had heard of the Elemental Hero archetype, but he had never actually seen a deck of them used before. He was curious about how Jaden would utilize that deck of his. However, his attention was quickly captured by something off to the sidelines, having taken a moment to shoot a harsh glare at one of his least favorite teachers: Crowler.

But he wasn't alone.

There was another student standing in front of him, right in the middle of the exit to the duel stadium. Shirou couldn't get a good look from his position, but he could at least make out that it was a female Obelisk student.

He could not quite make out what they were discussing. Crowler was acting abnormally nice as he normally did with the people he considered "elite", but the annoying smile on his face quickly fell when the girl pulled something out, showing it to him.

Then he looked outrage. He managed to keep his tone down enough to keep people from overhearing, but Shirou could not help but feel curious. He wanted to observe the confrontation more, but he was snapped out of his focus when Syrus pulled on his shoulder.

"Pay attention! It's Chazz's turn!"

* * *

"Don't think for a second that over-sized pile of pebbles has a chance against me, Jaden! Or against this!" Chazz drew a card. "Fresh off the presses! Meet Magical Mallet!" A green card appeared on the field depicting a wooden mallet.

"What's that?" Jaden asked.

"A redo. All the cards in my hand that I don't want, I put back in my deck. Then I shuffle and re-draw." Chazz proceeded to add cards back to his deck and fulfilled the effects of his spell, redrawing enough cards to fill his hand.

"Now I get to pick whichever cards I want. Pretty cool, don'tcha think? And I haven't gotten to the best part! See, Jaden? I got to reshuffle Magical Mallet, too; so if I draw it again which I just did, I can play it again and again."

* * *

Shirou turned to his right. "OK, that has to be a lie! There's no way there's a card with an effect like that!"

"I'm afraid not." Bastion said. "With Magical Mallet, he can just keep redrawing until he gets the cards he wants."

"...Whoops. I meant to turn to Syrus." Shirou said with eyes half-lidded. "I don't particularly care for what _you_ have to say."

"Are you truly still so bitter over earli-"

"Shut up and let me watch the duel!"

* * *

Chazz repeated the process of his spell. "And that comes in handy, when I'm looking for _this_ : V-Tiger Jet! Sharpen your claws for ATK mode!" A large yellow fighter-jet appeared in the form of a crouched tiger with green wings on its sides. Unfolding itself, it landed on the field in front of Chazz, ready for battle (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1800). "And there's a lot more where that came from! Check out the magic of Frontline Base continuous-spell!" A spell card with the image of a union-type monster appeared on Chazz's field. "It lets me summon another level-4-or-below monster this turn. And I have just the one! I play W-Wing Catapult in ATK mode!" A blue jet platform appeared next to the Tiger Jet (4/ATK: 1300/DEF: 1500). "Gentlemen start your engines!" W-Wing Catapult's thrusters released a heavy stream of propulsive flames and soared into the air. "Now, merge!" V-Tiger Jet fired up its engines and hovered straight up to join its partner. In midair, the two machines stacked together to form a single, larger machine (6/ATK: 2000/DEF: 2100). "All right! The VW-Tiger Catapult! But wait, I'm not done yet because he still has his special-ability!"

"That's not good." Jaden groaned.

* * *

"Give me a break!" Syrus complained. "Is this guy's turn gonna end _some time_ this century?!"

"Hey, if he can keep going, I see no reason why he shouldn't be allowed to." Shirou answered, unamused. "The heavier the offense he has, the equally devastating defense he has." He noticed Syrus glaring at him with a mix of shock and betrayal on his face. "I mean from a neutral viewpoint. I'm rooting for Jaden, too, but unless a participant fails to make a move, there's no actual rule against making as many moves as Chazz is."

Syrus sighed. "I know, but it's just unfair towards Jaden that he has to deal with so many monsters on what will be only his second turn... _if_ he gets a second turn."

"You're telling me. Chazz's deck is no joke. He has such powerful monsters along with those rare cards from before, right?" Shirou asked rhetorically. He frowned. "Which leaves me curious as to how that blue douche got his hands on them..."

* * *

"By sending a card to the graveyard, I can force one of _your_ monsters into ATK mode!" Clayman stood up from his guard. "So now, after this heat-seeker blitz from my Tiger Catapult, your life points are toast!" Jaden braced himself as his monster was bombarded by a series of exploding missiles.

 **Chazz: 4000 LP**

 **Jaden: 2800 LP**

"I'll finish up with one card face-down." A reverse-card appeared.

"Yeah, go ahead and finish up." Jaden said. "I'm just getting warmed up!" Jaden turned his attention to his deck. "Alright, my turn." Jaden drew a card from his deck. "And here's someone who can really turn up the heat. I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman! In defense mode!" The crowd reacted as the lightning-wielding hero settle in a defensive position, either in awe of the monster or shock at how relatively weak Jaden's defense was compared to Chazz's field (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1400). "And, I'll throw down a face-down!" A reverse card appeared on Jaden's field.

"Ready for round, two, you Slifer Slime?" Chazz taunted as he drew his next card. "Well X-Head Cannon is! And, thanks to Frontline's magic, so is Z-Metal Tank!" A yellow-plated robot with shoulder-mounted lasers appeared supported on a floating metal ball (4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1500) along with a yellow crab-like tank (4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 1300). "Now I play, my face-down card! Call of the Haunted!" Chazz's face-down flipped face-up. "In case you slept through _that_ class as well, it allows me to bring back a monster from my graveyard, and I choose..." A red dragon-based machine rose to the field (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1500). "That's right: Y-Dragon Head! It's what I discarded with my Catapult's special ability! And now I combine them all to create XYZ-Dragon Cannon!" The three monsters stacked together, X on top of Y and Y on top of Z (7/ATK: 2800/DEF: 2600). "But wait, Jaden; there's more! Actually, _less_. Sure, they say two's better than one, but I have to disagree..." Both of his monsters soared into the air and started the process of combining once more. "Especially when the one in question is the ultimate VWXYZ Dragon Catapult Cannon!" The collection of machines landed as one massive mech with V's claws, standing on W's parts as its legs, X connected as its torso with the tiger's head as its helmet, Y's wings on its back and Z's parts hanging from the yellow robot's hands as its arms (8/ATK: 3000/DEF: 2800).

* * *

"That's a monster that could give the Blue-Eyes White Dragon a run for its money!" Shirou noted in a mix of shock and awe.

"It's too strong!" Syrus agreed.

"If Chazz attached one more piece of scrap metal to that thing..." Shirou trailed off. "Well, I honestly don't see how it could get worse."

* * *

"Makes your _Sparkman_ look like a heap of _spark-plugs_ , huh?" Sparkman was suddenly surrounded by a heavy wind, vanishing from the field. "Or at least it did."

"My Sparkman...!" Jaden gasped, surprised by his hero's disappearance.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't I mention V-to-Z's special-ability?" Chazz laughed maliciously. "He allows me to remove one card on your side of the field once per turn. And if you think that's impressive, just wait til you see his attack. An attack that will strike your life points directly!"

"Don't think so, Chazz! I have a trap!" Jaden's reverse-card rose. "A Hero Emerges!" His trap card flipped face-up, revealing the image of a monster wearing a red cape.

"A Hero _what_?!" Chazz gasped.

"Emerges." Jaden repeated. "As in _emerges_ onto the field! Because now you have to randomly choose a card from my hand and, if it's a monster, I get to play it! So take your pick, Chazz."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Chazz pointed at Jaden's hand. "The far right."

"Sweet!" Jaden said as he looked at the chosen card. "Elemental Hero Burstinatrix! I'll play her in defense mode!" A fiery heroine appeared on the field (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 600).

"That's what you think, you Slifer Slacker!" Chazz cut in, sounding triumphant. "When Dragon Catapult Cannon attacks, I get to choose your monster's mode! And you know what? I choose attack mode, which means not only will she be zapped-" Dragon Catapult Cannon charged up its main cannon as Burstinatrix stood, the machine unleashing its power on the significantly weaker monster. "But your life-points will, too!"

 **Chazz: 4000 LP**

 **Jaden: 1000 LP**

"Aw, what's the matter, Jaden? Having some test anxiety? Don't worry; it'll be over soon."

"No way, Chazz, I got a whole army of vicious monsters in my deck just waiting to get at you!" Jaden declared, his will as determined as it was before. "This isn't over! It's just barely starting!"

"We'll see..." Chazz rplied, unconvinced.

"Alright, my turn!" Jaden drew his next card. "...And I summon Winged Kuriboh in defense mode!" A small, furry creature with big eyes and angel-like wings appeared on the field, its tiny paws crossed in an attempt at defending itself (1/ATK: 300/DEF: 200). A majority of the audience, mainly the girls, squealed at the sight of the bright-eyed, fuzzy ball of sunshine.

* * *

"Something wrong, Shirou...?" Syrus asked, noticing Shirou's narrowed eyes, his lower face hidden as he crouched behind the railing.

"Do you think Jaden would be willing to trade me that Winged Kuriboh?"

Syrus sweatdropped. "Uh...I don't think so...I think that card means a lot to him..."

"...Damn."

* * *

"And I'll throw down a face-down, too" Jaden concluded his turn, a reverse card appearing on his field. "That's it."

"All done, huh? Good, because now I can cook that Kuriboh, and I like mine well-done!" Chazz drew his next card. "There's about to be a fried furball on the field, you loser!"

"You don't scare me!" Jaden retorted, unwavering despite the fact he had a level 1 monster as his only defense against a level 8 monster.

"No big deal. I don't have to. That's his job," Chazz pointed at the giant robot, "Dragon Catapult Cannon, attack!" All cannons fired on Winged Kuriboh.

Right before the attack connected, Jaden slid the cards in his hand to the graveyard. "I sacrifice two cards and activate Transcendent Wings!" A spell card depicting a girl with large, angelic wings flipped face-up on the field.

Winged Kuriboh's wings the grew, its wingspan now exceeding the width of the arena. Despite getting hit by the attack head-on, Winged Kuriboh's wings deflected the attack to either side of Jaden, refusing to be outright crushed by VWXYZ's raw power.

"It can't be!" Chazz screamed, his jaw dropping in shock and horror.

"Oh, it be." Jaden confirmed. "Transcendent Wings has evolved Winged Kuriboh into Winged Kuriboh LV 10!" Through the light, Winged Kuriboh received a dragon-shaped helmet (10/ATK: 300/DEF: 200). "And it gets better, too. By sacrificing himself, Kuriboh destroys all monsters in attack mode and deflects their attack points back as damage to you! Kuriboh, why don't you go ahead and show him how it works!" Kuriboh was surrounded by a large sphere of crackling, electrical power, building up some sort of magical charge shortly before the beast within exploded, the light surging outward and striking Dragon Catapult Cannon, completely annihilating the mechanical behemoth.

 **Chazz: 1000 LP**

 **Jaden: 1000 LP**

"Lucky punk!" Chazz growled.

"Lucky? Nah, I just happen to have a soft spot for old ladies." Jaden's eyes narrowed. "But not for you, Chazz. And that's too bad, because with 1000 life points a-piece, all I need is the right monster and you'll be finished!"

Chazz growled in irritation. "I end my turn!"

"Okay, my turn! Here goes something!" Jaden looked at the card he drew and held it up, "Yeah! Elemental Hero Avian!" Chazz gasped as he summoned another hero, clothed in green with bird-like wings attached to his back (3/ATK:1000/DEF:1000). "Now attack with Feather-Break!" Chazz watched as Avian rose up into the air, unable to do a thing with no monsters and no face-downs left on his field. He took the full impact of the razor feathers. He fell to his knees, experiencing the crushing sensation of bitter defeat.

 **Chazz: 0 LP**

 **Jaden: 1000 LP**

The moment Chazz's life points ran out, the audience erupted into a booming roar, cheering for the underdog's unexpected victory.

* * *

"Well..." Shirou said after several seconds. "I did not see that coming."

Syrus laughed, joining in the cheers with the rest of the crowd. "That's Jaden for you! Never count him out unless you see his life points hit 0 yourself!"

For Shirou, the outcome of the duel was nothing less than a complete shock. Chazz had far stronger monsters and rare cards on his side. His attack power was far higher than anything Jaden ever could have summoned out. Yet, in the end, Jaden managed to completely turn things around with a single card. Shirou could not help but admire that level of skill and luck that Jaden possessed.

"And even after Chazz brought out such a heavy-hitter-"

BEEPBEEPBEEP!

Shirou frowned, looking at his surroundings for the source of the noise. "What's that...?" Then he realized that something in his pocket was vibrating slightly. He didn't have a cell phone (not that any regular coverage plan would let him make or receive calls from an island in the middle of the ocean), so he had not yet realized that the source was in his pocket the whole time. He reached down into his pocket, pulling out his Duel Academy PDA. "What's going on with this thing...?"

If he were to be quite honest, he had half-forgotten he even had the device. He never saw any use for it.

An opening envelope appeared on the touch screen.

"I think you got an message from the staff." Syrus explained, pointing at the device in Shirou's hands.

Shirou blinked, looking surprised. "We can send messages on these things?" He was not very tech-savvy.

"Uh...yeah..." Syrus frowned. "You didn't know that?"

The snow-haired boy decided to go with the best, safe answer of "No." He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Next I bet you'll be saying we can play Minesweeper on these things!"

"...You can."

"Holy crap, really!?" Shirou eyed his PDA with new-found interest and respect. "Anyway, I guess I should go check what this is about..." He turned to the cheering crowd, celebrating Jaden's victory and smiled. It brought back a nostalgic feeling of when his dad dueled. "You should probably go and congratulate your bestie. I assume it's not everyday that a Slifer Red beats an Obelisk Blue."

"Oh! Right! See you later, Shirou!" With that, Syrus left Shirou to his own devices (quite literally).

"Now how do I open this..." Shirou fiddled with the confounding piece of technology for several minutes before he finally managed to open the message sent to him. "OK, so what do we have...?"

The message that was displayed on the screen before him read:

-You have received a sudden change in opponents for the Duel Exam, so report to the Dueling Arena right now, Slifer Slacker.

He didn't even need to read the name given by the sender to realize it was Crowler.

"I just don't get what that guy's deal is." Deciding that thinking about it would only serve to frustrate him further, Shirou instead proceeded to exit the stands and enter the duel arena, hesitating for several minutes when Chancellor Shepard's voice was heard from the speakers, congratulating Jaden on his victory and that Jaden would be moved up to Ra Yellow for his feat.

Shirou only felt comfortable going to the duel arena once the applause had died down, earning a great deal of confusion and annoyance from a majority of the nameless masses that were observing. Their gazes were so harsh and piercing that With how uncomfortable he was beginning to feel, Shirou had begun to suspect that this had been a cruel, sick trick by Crowler as a means to humiliate him. People started whispering, clearly confused as to why somebody was stepping up to the duel field after Jaden already finished celebrating his victory.

Shirou just shoved his hands in his pockets, keeping his head down as he approached one of the fields, standing at one end while trying to ignore all of the eyes that were on him.

"What's with him?"

"What's he doing up there? Isn't this thing over?"

"He's kind of creepy..."

"Don't tell me he's trying to upstage Yuki after he beat an Obelisk."

"He seems like a jerk..."

"Such a loser."

"Can he even duel?"

"Somebody should go down there and kick that guy's butt..."

It was hard to tell whether or not they intended for Shirou to hear them, but each whisper was hardly inaudible, being easily heard when everyone was doing it at the same time at various low volumes. Each passing second of whispering and gossiping only served to irritate Shirou further.

His fuse was running shorter and shorter as time went on, incredibly close to going off.

"HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!" Shirou finally screamed after his temper exploded. "YOU JERKS GOT SOMETHING TO SAY TO ME, SAY IT TO MY FACE! YOU GOT A PROBLEM?! I'LL TAKE ON EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU HERE AND NOW, SO BRING IT ON!" It wasn't about being spoken down to or spoken badly about. It was about nobody having the guts to say it to his face. That was what REALLY set him off. "COME ON! I'LL PAINT THE WALLS THE SAME COLOR AS MY JACKET! I-!"

"Ahem!" Chancellor Shepard's voice appeared on the intercom again. "I do hope you all realize that the dueling exams are far from over for the day. So I would appreciate it if you would all vent your excitement _after_ everyone is finished." A pause. "That includes you, young man."

A light blush colored Shirou's cheeks. "O-Oh...Sorry!"

"Now then...now that my precious time and money have been wasted for the day..." An irritable Crowler muttered as he stepped up to the dueling arena. "...I may as well tell you that Jaden Yuki won't be the only person facing an Obelisk Blue student today." From the way he said it, Shirou thought he had a bad taste on his mouth and that made the announcement only so much more exciting for him. "I arranged you a little match as well. It may have been a little last minute, but it appeared my hands were...tied."

"Huh...?" Something about that last sentence sounded off. "So I'm also dueling an Obelisk Blue?" He heard Crowler say it. He just enjoyed the disgust on the man's face and the misfortune he was feeling.

"Unfortunately, yes." Crowler confirmed. "I can only hope that she delivers the beating that Chazz _should have_ delivered to Jaden, slacker."

"We can only hope." Shirou agreed sarcastically, turning to face the other side of the field.

He waited for several minutes until a girl entered the stadium, dressed in the clothes of an Obelisk Blue girl. She was a young, skinny brunette, her long, thick hair completely blocking most of some odd scar tissue on the left side of her face, only a vague hint being shown. Shirou didn't know how big her scar was, but it was apparently big enough that she felt the necessity to style her bangs to cover it.

The crowd went silent again, just staring at the girl who mirrored their silence. Due to the blank expression on her face, Shirou thought that she might have been lost, but thought better of it when she stepped up to the duel field, walking to the other end without a single word. Neither a polite or snide remark came from her lips. She just stood there, staring with a frozen, empty expression reminiscent of a deer caught in the headlights.

"Uh...hey there..." Shirou greeted after another few minutes of awkward silence.

The girl said nothing.

"...My name's Shirou and...uh...I see you also have a duel disk with you..."

Silence was her only response.

"...You lost?"

Again, the girl said nothing. She just kept staring with that unnerving look of hers.

"OK, give me a nod or a shake so I at least know you can hear me...You know you're in the dueling arena, right?"

His heart jumped when he saw her nod, showing the first sign that she was even aware of what was going on.

"...You meant to be here?"

The girl nodded again.

"...Are you my opponent for the duel exam?"

Yet again, the girl nodded.

"You...You know me?" Apparently, dueling a Slifer Red was considered "beneath" normal Obelisks, so Shirou was surprised.

The girl nodded vigorously.

"OK, were you saying "yes" before or were you nodding your head randomly?!" Then he noticed that she was quickly shaking her head. "Oh! That was a "no". You just accidentally nodded yes?"

The girl paused for a moment, considering the question before nodding.

"Well, OK then."

Crowler let out a sigh of ever-growing frustration. "Or for the love of-!" He again stepped onto the duel field, gesturing to the girl. "This is your opponent, Chelia West! She's a second year Obelisk Blue and she's obviously not much of a talker so just start the duel so we can get this over with!"

Shirou raised his hands in surrender. "OK! OK! You don't have to be so harsh about..." Shirou added, under his breath, "...apparently somebody missed their beauty sleep..." He turned back to the girl, now known as "Chelia", still on the receiving end of her stare. "Uh...OK then...I guess we start now...right?"

Chelia nodded, raising her duel disk, activating it.

"Alright then!" Shirou grinned, bringing out his own Duel Disk. "Duel!" He paused when Chelia responded with further silence. "Aw, you didn't do the thing...the thing people do for some reason where they shout "Duel!" at the beginning of every duel...huh..."

Chelia still did not give a verbal response.

"OK then...Duel...I guess...I'll let you go first..." Shirou said awkwardly.

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Chelia: 4000 LP**

"Uh...ladies first and stuff..."

"Hn." Chelia gave a nod before drawing a card from her deck. "...Summon: Puppet He-Doll in attack mode." A brown, wooden statue-like figure, appeared on the field, it's obvious joints creaking loudly as if to emphasize its creepy and ominous appearance (3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000).

"Holy crap!" Shirou reacted strongly, the girl lowering her head as if in shame. "You can talk!" Chelia stared at him, a hint of confusion appearing in her eyes. "You're so quiet that I thought you were a mute! I guess you're not...Good to know!" Realizing how he had spoken out of turn, Shirou shut his mouth awkwardly. "Um...continue."

"...Yes." She pointed at her He-Doll. "...Activate ability. I can now summon one Puppet She-Doll from my hand or deck." Chelia took out her deck and revealed her cards in front of her, drawing out one monster from within before shuffling her deck and putting it back in its respective slot in her duel disk. "...Summon: Puppet She-Doll in defense mode." A new wooden figure appeared on her field, bearing a similar, toy-like appearance to Puppet He-Doll except for its lower body which looked as though it were styled into some sort of brown-wooden skirt, the wooden figure kneeling on the ground (3/ATK: 0/DEF: 2000).

Shirou felt a shiver go down his spine, a cold feeling embracing his body. 'Did someone set the AC higher?' He took a deep breath, trying to take his mind off of how ineffective his student jacket was. "Not a bad line-up. Not exactly a heavy offense, but not a bad defense."

If Chelia acknowledged Shirou's somewhat-praise, she did not show it. "...I play one card face-down in my spell/trap zone." A reverse card appeared on her field. "Turn end."

Trying to get over Chelia's odd speech patterns, Shirou added a card to his hand from the top of his deck. "My turn..." Shirou looked at the cards in his hand, eventually picking one out. "I summon Masked Dragon in attack mode." His white and red dragon appeared, staring at Chelia's field through its mask (3/ATK: 1400/DEF: 1100). "Now I activate my spell card, Stamping Destruction." A spell card appeared on the field, showing a dragon's foot stomping deeply into the ground. "With this bad boy, I can destroy one trap or spell on the field and inflict 500 points of damage to the owner! Sorry to say, but you're face-down is toast!"

Much to his confusion, Chelia shook her head. She pulled out a card from her hand and revealed it to him, the card in question being a monster card. "...Substitute Puppet's ability. I can discard him from my hand and negate the destruction of any of my spell or traps..." She slid her monster into the card graveyard, Shirou's own spell shattering like glass.

"Fine." Shirou gestured to his Masked Dragon. "I'll just take out your He-Doll then! Attack, Masked Dragon!" The beast release a heavy fireball from its mouth, impacting Puppet He-Doll with its relatively greater power.

His opponent did not so much as flinch when her monster was destroyed.

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Chelia: 3600 LP**

A card on Chelia's field flipped face-up, depicting two puppets with their strings tied in many knots. "...Trap: Tangled Marionette. Because you destroyed my Puppet, I can take your Masked Dragon." She said it so dispassionately that someone would have thought that she was upset about her own victory.

Again, Shirou felt the coldness in the room increase ever-so-slightly. "Then that means-!" A set of four strings shot out of the trap card, ensnaring Masked Dragon and forcibly dragging it over to Chelia's side of the field in the same position. With that one move, Shirou's defenses were stripped bare as if he had done nothing. "Fine. I end my turn with two face-downs." Two reverse cards appeared on Shirou's field.

"...Draw." Chelia added a card to her hand. "...Spell: Enchanted Fitting Room. I pay 800 life points and can pick up the top four cards off of my deck. If any of them are level 3 or lower normal monsters, I can summon them. The rest are shuffled back into my deck."

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Chelia: 2800 LP**

Chelia picked up the top four cards from her deck, looking through them. She looked back up at Shirou. "...Two." She placed two monsters onto the field. "...The first is the monster known as Jigsaw Doll." A porcelain figure appeared, clothed in a white gown with shoulder-length black hair. However, her most noticeable feature was her face which looked as though it had been shattered and had the pieces glued back together in the wrong places (2/ATK: 600/DEF: 0). "...And the second is Puppet Masquerade." The second monster was a a marionette of a (albeit cartoonish) human-like man, clothed in a hat and cape like that of a magician, it's face hidden by an opera mask except for its giant, beady yellow eyes (1/ATK: 0/DEF: 0).

"Uh...Not to be rude, but aren't those monsters kind of weak?" Shirou could not help but feel unnerved. He could not tell if the girl was stupid or just reckless.

"...No." Chelia pointed to her Puppet She-Doll. "...Activate ability. By tributing one level 3 or lower Puppet, I can special summon one Puppet He-Doll from my graveyard. So I tribute my Puppet Masquerade." The unsettling toy suddenly fell to pieces, breaking into splinters before glowing a bright light, quickly reassembling as a familiar wooden gentleman (3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000).

"That thing again?" While it was certainly stronger than her previous monster, it still only had 1000 ATK points. 'Well, I guess, considering my empty field, it's not much of a challenge for any monster to deal out some damage.' He eyed his two face-down cards. 'Should I use it now or save it for later...?'

"...Because that was a special summon, I can still normal summon. Mysterious Puppeteer in attack mode." Chelia announced, summoning yet another monster onto her side of the field, this one being a mysterious man clothed in purple robes, carrying a puppet by its strings (4/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1500). "...Now I attack with my monsters." She didn't name any of them in particular, but Shirou automatically assumed she meant _all_ of them. All of her monsters certainly seemed excited about it, immediately lunging forward.

"Not so fast! I activate my trap card!" Shirou motioned for his face-down card, flipping it face-up and revealing a common trap card most people knew. "Negate Attack! And thanks to this card, not only do I get to negate your attacks, but I can also end your battle phase for this turn!" Chelia's monsters suddenly collided with a thick, impenetrable wall, their impact being almost comical in nature before they slid to the ground.

Chelia looked at her downed monsters for several seconds before turning back to Shirou, nodding. "...End turn."

Shirou frowned, uneasy by her almost bored tone towards dueling. Granted, he took his dueling a little too seriously sometimes, but that was because he cared about it so much. He could not get a single read on how the mysterious girl known as Chelia was feeling about it...

"You know, it really wouldn't kill you to show some feeling." He immediately wanted to bite his tongue off. "Er...I mean...You just kind of bum me out-No, that's-What I mean is..." Chelia continued boring into his skull with those blank eyes of hers.

He sighed, realizing each attempt at speech would only sound worse than the last. "...I draw." He added a card to his hand. "And next I activate the spell card, Draconnection! This lets me reveal one Dragon-type monster in my hand and then draw one with the same level from my deck!" Shirou pulled one card from his hand, turning it to reveal a giant green dragon. "So I'll show my level 4 Blackland Fire Dragon, so I can add my level 4 Blizzard Dragon to my hand!" Shirou added a monster from his deck to his hand. "And then I just go ahead and shuffle my Blackland Fire Dragon back into my deck!" Shirou smirked. "And next I think I'll summon out my Blizzard Dragon in attack mode!" An icy-blue dragon releasing snowflake-carrying gusts from its wings appeared on the field (4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1000).

"...Activate ability." Chelia announced, pointing to her Mysterious Puppeteer whose puppet was beginning to emit a dark-green light. "...Whenever a monster is normal or flip summoned, I receive 500 life points."

'Oh dear God, please tell me this isn't happening again.' Shirou whined mentally, remembering the last time he fought a duel with someone repeatedly increasing their life points.

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Chelia: 3300 LP**

"Fine then! But that's not all! I'm activating the spell card, Dragon's Gunfire!" A green card depicting a dragon unleashing a heavy fireball appeared on the field. "And it's a special card that has two abilities! The first, I can inflict 800 points of damage to you directly. The second, I get to destroy one monster on your field as long as they have 800 or less defense points! And I think I'll go with good ol' number two!" The spell card unleash a powerful fireball from its frame, blasting Chelia's Jigsaw Doll to smithereens. "And now I'm going to activate Blizzard Dragon's own special ability! This lets me select one monster on your field and, til the end of your next turn, it can't attack or change modes! So I'm gonna pick your Mysterious Puppeteer! Get'em Blizzard Dragon!"

The ice-element dragon opened its mouth, unleashing a heavy torrent of snowy breath on the puppet master, encasing him in a life cocoon of ice.

"And now I'm gonna use my Blizzard Dragon to take out your-or should I say MY Masked Dragon!" Shirou declared. "Time to beat some sense into our dear old friend! Attack now!" Blizzard Dragon lunged forward, spreading its wings and flying high into the sky, aiming its muzzle at Masked Dragon. A large wave of icicles shot from Blizzard Dragon's mouth, piercing through Masked Dragon which let out a high-pitched shriek before it exploded.

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Chelia: 2900 LP**

And still, there was no reaction from his opponent.

"OK, you're officially creeping me out now." Shirou whined, unnerved by Chelia's behavior. "Don't take it personally, but you're kind of weird..."

Chelia said nothing, but Shirou was certain that something had changed. The cold feeling around him only intensified further and he wasn't sure why. Nobody else seemed moderately affected by the fact that it was beginning to feel like the inside of a fridge.

'Seriously.' Shirou complained mentally. 'Is a monkey handling the thermostat?' A soft animal-like whine suddenly filled his eardrums, causing him to stiffen in surprise. "The hell was that?" However, nobody else seemed to notice whatever it was. '...Maybe I'm imagining things.'

"...Done?" Chelia's voice snapped Shirou out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh! Right!" Shirou nodded. "Yeah, that's the end of my turn."

"...Draw." Chelia added a card to her hand. Then she revealed the card, playing it immediately. "...Spell: Pot of Greed. I draw two cards." She added two more cards to her hand. She looked at Shirou, looking him in the eyes, as if asking something. "...Good draw." It took Shirou a few moments to realize she was waiting for a response

"Oh...I see?"

"...Activate Field Spell: Puppet Performance Stage." Chelia inserted a card into her field zone slot on her duel disk.

A blinding light suddenly shone in Shirou's face, as if from a spotlight above. "What the-?" And then the ground around him slowly began to change as well, a line of light running over it like a scanner of some sort, every area run over being replaced by wood paneling. A large wall erected to their side, a large, red curtain being restrained at the side. "A field spell, huh?...Not very impressive-looking..."

Chelia hung her head, her expression still neutral. "..."

Again, a soft animal-like whine suddenly filled his eardrums, causing Shirou to stiffen in surprise. 'OK, that time I'm positive I didn't imagine that.' The whine resonated in his eardrums several times before Shirou's eyes were drawn to the Duel Disk around his arm. As if to confirm his suspicions, the source of the whine let out another squeal. "Is my Duel Disk defective or something...?" The cold feeling intensified to the point Shirou wished he had worn two more jackets.

"...Still my turn." Chelia announced. "...Spell card, Polymerization." She placed the fusion spell card in her spell/trap zone.

"Which means you can fuse two or more monsters, right...?" Shirou groaned, realizing the implications of what that spell could do.

Chelia nodded. "Puppet He-Doll and Puppet She-Doll fuse to summon my Puppet Lovers Doll."

The pair of puppets flew to one another, grasping one another's "hands", spin it each other around as if in a romantic dance. Their speed became faster and faster and faster until they vanished into a twister of their own creation. When the spinning finally slowed to a sudden stop, a new monster appeared, bearing the appearance of a pair of more mechanical-looking puppets, possessing more details than the fusion materials, one being distinguishably "male", dressed in a tuxedo and top hat while the other was "female", clothed in a deep, red dress with wooden-looking brown hair, their hands clasped together. Their legs, however, were even more..."intimate", extending for several feet and wrapping around one another in a twisting spire, their wooden ligaments there for all of the world to see (6/ATK: 2600/DEF: 2000).

It looked...disturbing. And Shirou did nothing to hide his discomfort.

"That's...pretty creepy." He scratched his chin nervously. "I know you probably go home everyday probably to brush your Barbie's hair, but do you think you could instead spend that time to find less disturbing cards to use...?"

And that freezing feeling, the one he had been experiencing for the entire duel, it was no longer cold.

It was FREEZING. As if his entire body had been encased in ice.

"...I thought you were different..." Chelia's words caught Shirou off-guard.

"What?"

'After I saw you duel...I...I just wanted to believe you were different...I even blackmailed Crowler into letting me duel you...but I guess you weren't different after all...' Chelia hid her eyes behind her bangs and gestured to her Puppet Lovers Doll, refusing to answer Shirou's curiosity. "...Now I attack with the fusion monster I just summoned..." The Puppet Lovers Doll started rotating on its axis, spinning around and around like a twister, speeding towards Shirou's Blizzard Dragon like the Tasmanian Devil. Blizzard Dragon tried to futilely unleash its icicle-filled breath at the creature, but it was all diverted around the fusion's spinning form, leaving Blizzard Dragon to be crushed by the centripetal force.

"Crap..." Shirou cursed quietly.

 **Shirou: 3400 LP**

 **Chelia: 2900 LP**

"...I activate the effect of Puppet Performance Stage." Chelia announced in her same monotone. "...Whenever a Puppet monster on my field destroys an opponent's monster by battle, I can summon one level 4 or lower Puppet from my deck." Chelia looked through her deck, pulling out one card. "And now I summon out Puppet Knight in attack mode." Another wooden construct appeared on the field, similar to Puppet He-Doll except in terms of its wooden body and joints but different in that it was armed with a sword (albeit a wooden one) and wore medieval armor that looked as thought it was made of plastic (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1100). "...And because I just summoned him during the battle phase, he may attack as well."

The wooden knight charged forth, sword drawn.

"Double crap!" Shirou cursed again, this time more audibly. Puppet Knight slammed its sword right down on Shirou's head, causing him to grunt from the force of the projected blow.

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Chelia: 2900 LP**

Shirou clicked his tongue. "Whatever! You got lucky with those junk pile monsters of yours! On my next turn, you're done!" He paused when he realized something. The spotlight that was shining down on Chelia, it was...different. Shirou wasn't sure why or how, but he knew for a fact that something was off.

The light was dark-blue. A dark-blue light was shrouded around Chelia, like a cloud of mist that just seemed to really like her. If it had been in an anime, Shirou probably would have called it "aura". And that wasn't all, he got the oddest sense of familiarity from that "aura". It was cold, but not just that...

It was lonely.

Shirou tried blinking his eyes several times, rubbing them vigorously, but the aura remained, like the light from a candle and Chelia being the candle wick. He could tell just from looking at it that it was no ordinary hologram. It was obvious that Chelia herself did not even see it, which only led Shirou to further question why _he_ could. He didn't even know what _it_ was in the first place.

Again, that soft, high-pitched whine filled Shirou's ears. "OK, just what the Hell is that?!" And that was when it appeared before his eyes.

It was faint, almost invisible, but Shirou saw it clearly, an oddly familiar, light-blue dragon.

"Oh dear God, it's finally happened." Shirou gasped, eyes wide. "I've finally gone insane." It was the only explanation that made sense to him: He had had a mental breakdown and was now seeing things. The dragon let out a light growl of irritation. "Oh what do _you_ want?" There was another whine. "I don't know what you're saying, you sign of mental instability! If you're gonna let me know I've gone crazy, at least do it in a language I can understand!" The barely visible entity pointed to Shirou's right. "What?"

He peered through the hologram projected by Chelia's field spell, staring in the direction the dragon pointed in. Shirou faced the audience who had gathered in the building to watch the duel exams.

[Oh geez, it's that weird girl from our dorm.]

[What was her name? Amelia?]

[Even us guys know her. All she does is sit in her room playing with those creepy dolls of hers.]

[Doesn't she look weird?]

[Yeah, those scars are so gross!]

[A weirdo versus a slacker. A fitting pair I suppose.]

[And what's with that deck of hers...? At least pick cards that aren't from a horror movie.]

"Huh...?" Shirou blinked. 'All of them...they're saying horrible things...and for once it's not about me...' He turned his attention back to Chelia, the girl holding her arms at her side. '...Don't tell me that this girl is _unpopular.'_ And again, he noticed something he had previously missed. It was ever so slightly, but her arm had been twitching. It was an almost unnoticeable pattern until that moment, but Shirou noticed that every 4-5 seconds, her arm twitched and she would lower her head. It looked as though she was trying to hide her face from everybody. 'That's it!' The realization hit Shirou with such a heavy force that he had felt stupid for not seeing it before.

Her silence, her awkward way of speaking, her odd behavior. It was never about being a quiet person or liking/disliking him or dueling.

Chelia was shy.

Because everyone was always talking bad about her behind her back, she was probably even more nervous in front of crowds, making her more susceptible to their bullying.

"It's probably taken all of her guts just to get up on this stage and duel me..." Shirou said aloud, almost forgetting the almost ghost-like existence next to him. He turned to face the floating creature. "And that's what you were trying to tell me, huh...?" He suddenly felt like his insides were thrown into a meat grinder, his entire being wracked with unimaginable guilt. 'And here I was talking trash about her dueling and her monsters...' He thought back to all of the people, including Bastion and Weisse, who had ever insulted his own deck or duel style. 'I'm the worst...'

But it wasn't too late to make things right.

Chelia examined her hand one more time, looking just as downcast as she had before. "...End turn."

"OK then." Shirou agreed, drawing a card. "By the way...that was a pretty good move." Chelia looked up, momentarily surprised. "Yeah. I'm pretty miffed about my life points getting cut down, but you made a pretty good attack back there." Shirou grinned. "This is a pretty awesome duel!"

Chelia's face showed the first definite sign of change, her eyes widening in shock. "..." She said nothing, but her mouth opened ever so slightly.

"I mean, with that She-Doll, even if I broke your He-Doll to pieces, you could just keep bringing him back 'til you drew Polymerization to fuse them. And even then, it would have been no worries because you had cards like your Tangled Marionette trap!" Shirou rubbed the back of his neck, still smiling. "So from hereon out, I'm gonna give it my all! You'd better try your best too!"

The girl standing across from him looked almost immobilized by shock, but she nodded. "Hn."

Shirou looked at his hand, the only cards he possessed being Tyrant Dragon and Monster Reincarnation. 'While I would love to summon him out, I don't have the monsters needed to tribute summon Tyrant Dragon. My best bet is to used Monster Reincarnation to bring back my Blizzard Dragon and keep me safe for another turn...' Shirou sighed. "Alright! First off, I'm playing the spell card, Monster Reincarnation!" His spell appeared on the field. "And with this card, I can discard the card in my hand to bring another monster back to my hand!" Shirou slid Tyrant Dragon into his graveyard, taking back his Blizzard Dragon. "And now you're going be saying hello to an old friend of mine! Come on back, Blizzard Dragon!" An icy-blue dragon releasing snowflake-carrying gusts from its wings appeared on the field (4/ATK: 1800/DEF: 1000). "Yes, I know this means you get 500 points back because of your Mysterious Puppeteer's ability."

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Chelia: 3400 LP**

"But don't forget my monster's special ability! Now I get to put one of your monsters _on ice_ til the end of your turn! Blizzard Dragon, immobilize her Puppet Lovers Doll!"

The dragon opened its mouth, unleashing a heavy torrent of snowy breath on the construct, encasing it in a life cocoon of ice.

"And now I think I'll go on the attack! Go, Blizzard Dragon! Take out her Puppet Knight!" Blizzard Dragon opened its mouth, unleashing a heavy flurry mixed with icicles at the Puppet Knight. The puppet was engulfed by a heavy storm of ice, seemingly destroyed by the force. "Ha! Way to go!"

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Chelia: 3400 LP**

Shirou frowned. "Hey, how come your life points didn't drop?" He knew the attack made contact, but there was no change to the life point gauges.

And that was when the smoke cleared, revealing the image of an unfamiliar doll, possessing an infant-sized body and a horrible lack of features. The figure suddenly shattered in thin air, revealing Puppet Knight alive and well behind it.

"What?"

"...Ability." Chelia announced. "...I can remove my Substitute Puppet in my graveyard from play to negate one attack..."

"What?!" Blizzard Dragon was his only monster on his field, so he was out of attacks for that round. "Alright then...I guess I end my turn."

Chelia nodded in confirmation, silently drawing a card.

"You know, you could try to show some passion about it..." Shirou said, gaining Chelia's attention. "I've noticed it...You don't look like you're enjoying yourself at all." Shirou gestured to her field. "You're beating me down with that deck of yours but you're just moping around. Because of those jerks out there?" Shirou gestured to the other side of her field spell where the crowd stood, waiting and watching. "Why are you even dueling if you don't want to be here?"

"..." Chelia rubbed her left arm anxiously.

Shirou sighed. 'I probably pushed her too hard...'

"I like dueling..." Chelia peeped up, causing Shirou to jump. "...but because of how I look..." She placed a hand over the left half of her face, tenderly brushing her scarred skin tissue. "...I'm just no good with crowds...I'm always made fun of. Dolls were my only friends growing up, and because I always had one around, everyone thought I was weird." Her voice was trembling, her nervousness and shyness increasingly apparent. "I-I never had any friends before. I always loved dueling, but I never had anyone to duel against except for the bullies who tried to win things from me, only increasing their anger when I beat them...That's why I came to Duel Academy...I wanted to make friends, dueling with the cards I loved..." Her one visible eye was starting to water, but Shirou saw a tear drip from her chin, having trailed down from the eye hidden by her hair. "I...I really love dueling..."

"Then you should be more passionate about it." Shirou pointed at Chelia. Chelia looked up at Shirou, staring. "Look, I can kind of get where you're coming from. I've been told countless times "You're stupid", "you're a doofus", "your dueling skills suck"...My big sister can be a cruel woman, ya know." Shirou grinned like a fool.

"Pfft!" Chelia let out a light snort, trying to hide the smile of amusement that appeared on her face.

"There we go!" Shirou cheered, as if he obtained some sort of victory. "That's the smile we like to see!" Shirou gestured towards the crowds. "It shouldn't matter what those jerks out there think or say. You should be able to duel without worrying about what others think of you. It's all about guts!" Shirou pumped one fist into the air.

Chelia frowned, casting her gaze downward. "I don't know if I have guts...I am usually a gutless person..."

"You _were_ usually a gutless person." Shirou corrected her with past tense. "As long as you have cards in your hand and Duel Disk on your arm, there's always the opportunity to show your dueling spirit! Show the love you have for this game of ours! Now tell me: Do you want to duel to impress others or do you want to duel for yourself?"

Chelia tensed, nodding quickly. "I-I want to duel for myself..."

"What was that!? Do it with more pride!" Shirou commanded. "Do you want to duel for others or yourself!?"

"...M-M-Myself?"

"What was that?! Do it again!"

"Myself."

"I still can't hear you! Louder!"

"Myself!"

"Louder!"

"I want to duel for myself!"

"One more go!"

"I WANT TO DUEL FOR MYSELF!" Chelia declared with a heightened level of passion, baring her Duel Disk in front of her. "A-And I want to play it the way I wish to, regardless of how others look at me!"

Shirou's grin was so wide it started to hurt his face. "That's the spirit!"

Chelia smiled brightly, showing a drastically different expression from the one she was wearing when they first started. "Thank you...Fujimura Shirou." She thanked. "I...I'm really glad I ever wished to duel you!"

Shirou raised an eyebrow, his expression changing into one of confusion. "Huh?" What she said struck him as odd.

"And to thank you, I'll do everything I can to show you m-my passion as a duelist!" Chelia looked at her hand. "A-And I'll do it with this!" She revealed a card from her hand. "I activate the spell card, De-Fusion, allowing me to return my Puppet Lovers Doll to my deck and, in exchange, bring back my Puppet He-Doll and Puppet She-Doll!" Puppet Lovers Doll was enveloped in a brilliant light before splitting into two distinctive shapes, quickly regaining their appearances as a masculine-looking puppet (3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000) and a feminine-looking puppet (3/ATK: 0/DEF: 2000).

Shirou frowned. "Huh? But your Puppet Lovers Doll had more ATK points. Why would you send him back for two weaker monsters?"

Chelia smiled, an expression that Shirou felt much happier to see, the heavy aura around her quickly dissipating along with the cold feeling that had been engulfing him all throughout the duel.

"I'm glad you asked." Chelia answered. "Because now I can activate his special ability. When my Puppet Lovers Doll is removed from the field, I can special summon one Puppet monster from my graveyard! So now I will bring back, Puppet Masquerade!" Again, the maniacal-looking puppet returned to the field (1/ATK: 0/DEF: 0).

"OK...I still don't get it..." Shirou admitted without shame. "None of your monsters have enough points to stand up to Blizzard Dragon."

"Not on their own, no." Chelia agreed, undeterred. "But because I have them all out on the field, I can use them to summon out a greater power!" Chelia held out one of the cards in her hand, all of her monsters vanishing in a brilliant light, one by one. "For you see, I have a monster that has a neat special ability. I can release up to five Earth-attribute monsters on my side of the field and remove them from play. If I do, I can summon out an even more powerful monster!"

"Say what?!"

Chelia played the card in her monster zone. "That's right! I have released my Puppet He-Doll, my Puppet She-Doll, Mysterious Puppeteer, Puppet Masquerade, and Puppet Knight, all in order to summon out this new monster!" The ground began to shake, massive wooden limbs beginning to break the earth as it rose from underneath. "Now I would like you to meet the strongest monster in my deck! Come forth, my Puppet Chimera!"

The massive limbs pushed against the earth, dragging up their massive body behind it. The body itself was almost 1/4th the size of the field, one massive torso-like construct with almost a dozen limbs attached to it ranging from legs, arms, and even odd tentacles made of wood. Atop its massive frame was a twisted and broken wooden head, indistinguishable from any normal puppet (8/ATK: 0/DEF: 0).

"And don't worry about his 0 points! You see, my Puppet Chimera has a special ability." Chelia explained. "Whenever I special summon it using its special ability, he gains effects depending on the number of Earth-type monsters I removed from play to summon it! One sacrifice allows me to make it so you can't destroy it by battle." Chelia held up fingers corresponding with each card she used. "Two allows me to make his ATK points 2500. Three allows me to make it impossible for him to be destroyed by the effects of monsters, spells, or traps. Four, he can attack every monster on your field once. Five?" Chelia smiled passionately. "With five monsters removed from play, my Puppet Chimera's ATK power becomes 3000!" Puppet Chimera let out a heavy, creaking roar, its body being consumed by a large, violet aura.

Puppet Chimera: (ATK: 3000)

"3000 ATK points!?"

"That's right, Fujimura Shirou!" Chelia confirmed. "This is the ultimate monster in my Puppet deck, so strong that none of my other monsters can be on the same field! There is no way to destroy it! And speaking of destruction," Chelia motioned towards her Puppet Chimera, "it's time to show you exactly what my monster can do! Puppet Chimera, crush his Blizzard Dragon!"

The massive behemoth of a puppet raised several of its heavy limbs before bringing them in a downward arc upon Blizzard Dragon, the beast being easily crushed and destroyed.

Shirou winced as the blowback of the attack created powerful gusts, almost blowing him away.

 **Shirou: 600 LP**

 **Chelia: 3400 LP**

"And that is where I will end my turn." Chelia announced. "This may very well be your last turn, Fujimura Shirou. Next turn, there is no doubt that my Puppet Chimera will utterly devastate you along with the rest of your life points." She paused. "But...regardless of the outcome, I've really had a lot of fun."

Somehow, that made the prospect of losing seem much more bearable to Shirou. "Same here." He looked down at his deck. "Well, no point in drawing this out. My turn! Draw!" He drew a card from his deck, the only card in his hand now. 'Pot of Greed...?' And again, a familiar whine pierced his eardrums, the miniature blue dragon appearing in the air beside him, floating about with a cheerful expression. "You again...? What is it now...? I've already cleansed Chelia of her shyness and myself of any guilt. Just what do you want." Another wordless cry was the creature's response, but oddly enough, Shirou could not help but grasp its meaning as if it were spoken in the same language as his own. "You want me...to go ahead and use my face-down? Pot of Greed too?"

The dragon gave a squeal of approval.

"Alright then...If I'm gonna go down, may as well go out with a bang!" Shirou turned back to Chelia. "I activate the spell card, Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two more cards!" Shirou added two cards from the top of his deck to his hand. "And that's not all! Now I activate my face-down card, the trap, Reckless Greed!" His trap card, depicting a thief foolishly running into traps while trying to get a treasure in front of him appeared on the field. "And thanks to this card, I can draw two more cards as long as I skip my next two draws!"

Chelia nodded. "My chimera will just plow through whatever monsters you throw out, so you're fishing for spell's and traps to bail you out."

"I...think so." Shirou looked to the magical floating dragon next to him, the apparition nodding. "I-I mean "Yes"."

"I wish you luck. Don't not forget: Thanks to my Chimera's effect, he can't be destroyed by any means." Chelia reminded him. "You'll have to have some major luck if you want to get around that."

'Yeah,' Shirou agreed in his mind, "a lot of luck. How can I beat that Chimera when it has 3000 ATK points and can't be destroyed?!'

Again, the dragon squealed next to him, pointing at his hand with its little claws.

"What is it...?" And then Shirou realized what the dragon was pointing at. Shirou's eyes went wide as he recognized the design of the card, the very same monster he had picked up off the floor earlier. "Don't tell me I accidentally mixed this in with my deck! This thing is total weak-sauce!" The transparent duplicate growled, irritated by the insult. He (Shirou thought it was a "he") pointed at Shirou's Duel Disk more vigorously, making numerous intelligible noises that Shirou's mind continued to interpret as language. His eyes went wide. "You're right! There's still one monster that can get me out of this jam! With this hand, it could completely turn this duel around!" Shirou frowned. "The only trouble is summoning it..."

The dragon again pointed to the sole monster in his hand.

"You sure about this...?" The dragon nodded. "OK. This might not be pleasant though." Shirou turned back to Chelia, eyes narrowed in determination. "Alright, let's end this!" Shirou played his monster. "I summon out Decoy Dragon in attack mode!" The miniature blue dragon he had recently been conversing with swooped onto the field, beating his wings cheerfully (2/ATK: 300/DEF: 200).

A heavy chorus of "Aww's" and "So cute~!" erupted from the majority of the crowd (mostly the girls) just as it had back during Jaden's duel with Chazz.

"And then I'm gonna lay two cards face-down!" Two reverse-cards appeared on Shirou's field. "That's all she wrote!"

Chelia eyed Shirou's face-downs suspiciously. "Very well...Draw!" Chelia added one card to her hand. "Now I will attack your Decoy Dragon with my Puppet Chimera and wipe out the rest of your life points!" Again, the massive beast outstretched its numerous appendages, intending to crush Shirou's monster underneath the sheer weight of its limbs.

"Not so fast!" Shirou proclaimed. "Decoy Dragon has a pretty nifty ability, you see! Whenever he's targeted for an attack, I can bring back one level 7 or higher Dragon-type monster from the graveyard!"

"But you never had any level 7+ monsters sent to the graveyard." Chelia objected.

"Oh contrair, madame!" Shirou rebutted. "I recall sending one certain card from my hand to the grave using my Monster Reincarnation that fit the bill."

Chelia's eyes went wide. "So it was back then?!"

"That's right! I'm gonna bring back the one, the only, Tyrant Dragon!" A heavy pillar of flames erected around Decoy Dragon, swallowing up his tiny form. "However, in order to summon him from the grave, I had to give up one Dragon on my field." Shirou felt he may have imagined it, but he could have sworn that Decoy Dragon turned its head and smirked at him, giving him a thumbs up. "So goodbye, Decoy Dragon! Hellooooo, Tyrant Dragon!" A massive claw appeared through the flames, smashing heavily onto the ground, shortly followed by another one. Two wings appeared, outstretched, but they contracted, returning to the main body before immediately giving a heavy beast, blowing away all of the flames and revealing a massive, leathery brown dragon (8/ATK: 2900/DEF: 2500).

"You might want to redo your math." Chelia suggested. "Your monster is still 100 points short of beating my Chimera and, even then, he won't be destroyed."

"True, my dragon may not be able to destroy your monster," Shirou smirked, "but, then again, _he doesn't have to!_ I activate my trap card!" One of Shirou's face-downs flipped face-up, revealing a blade attached to a chain. "Kunai with Chain! With this card, I can use _two_ effects! The first lets me switch an opponent's monster to defense mode!" A chain shot out, wrapping around one of Tyrant Dragon's meaty claws. The beast lashed out, swinging the chain violently around, the blade weaving all around Puppet Chimera, wrapping around each and every one of its many limbs. Tyrant Dragon then pulled tightly, dragging the colossus down to earth with a mighty crash.

Puppet Chimera: (DEF: 0)

"And it's second ability turns it into an equip spell, boosting my Tyrant Dragon's ATK by 500!"

Tyrant Dragon let out a vicious roar as it grasped the chain of its weapon.

Tyrant Dragon: (ATK: 3400)

Chelia frowned. "So his ATK points are higher than Puppet Chimera's. My monster still can't be destroyed by battle!"

Shirou's smirk refused to leave his face. "But that's the real fun. On my next turn, this duel is over!"

Something about the confidence he spoke with unnerved Chelia. She was really happy about the words he spoke to her, but she still by no means intended to lose their duel. "We'll see. I end my turn!" She only had Puppet monsters in her hand. Nothing that could rival his Dragon even if she did play them. Switching Puppet Chimera to ATK mode only would have resulted in her losing life points. It was best to play it safe for the time-being.

"My move!" Shirou proclaimed. "The stage is set! IIIIIIt's showtime!" He pointed a finger high into the air. "And to start the beginning of the end of our little game, I now activate my remaining face-down card! Dragon's Rage!" Shirou's activated trap depicted a dragon smashing through an earthen wall. "With this card, this duel is over! You see, thanks to Dragon's Rage, whenever a Dragon-type monster on my field attacks a monster in defense position on your side that has lower DEF points than my monster's ATK points, then the difference is inflicted to you as damage!"

Chelia stiffed, her eyes becoming as wide as plates. "But wait! My chimera-!"

"Has 0 DEF points!" Shirou pointed out. "And my Tyrant Dragon has 3400! I don't need to destroy your Puppet Chimera, because your life points are all about to be erased with one attack! Go, Tyrant Dragon! Dragon Flame Blast!"

Tyrant Dragon let out a mighty roar, taking to the skies with a powerful beat of his wings. It took a large breath, filling up its spacious lungs with air. Puppet Chimera struggled frantically against its restraints, wriggling its many limbs as much as it could in a vain attempt to gain freedom. Tyrant Dragon then exhaled, unleashing a large stream of flames from his mouth which shot through the air, quickly burying Puppet Chimera under a raining inferno. Chelia, who was underneath Puppet Chimera, let out a harsh, squealing groan as she was hit by the full blast of Tyrant Dragon's attack.

 **Shirou: 600 LP**

 **Chelia: 0 LP**

Chelia fell to all-fours as her life point gauge hit 0, all of the cards in play on the field disappearing.

The match was over.

There were no cheers. No praises. Not a single positive word for Shirou who also beat an Obelisk Blue.

Everyone just stared in silence.

It was a loser versus another loser. As far as they were concerned, Shirou was just someone who was trying to steal Jaden's thunder by trying to defeat an Obelisk Blue of his own. It wasn't like they were going to boo him, but they were hardly going to praise him. He didn't count, but Shirou was certain that a good number of the other students had left, uninterested in the duel proceeding before them.

And Shirou was okay with that. If they were the only crowd he had around to impress, then he saw no fulfillment in it.

He walked over to Chelia, offering his hand to the downed girl. "That was a good duel!" Shirou praised. "You really had me on the ropes there! That Puppet Chimera was no joke!"

Chelia looked up at Shirou's outstretched hand. For a moment, it appeared as though she would avert her eyes, but then she smiled. "Yeah." She took Shirou's hand, pulling herself up to her feet.

And so their Duel Exam came to an end and a new bond had been forged.

* * *

 **And another chapter is done.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed Chelia West, an OC submitted by** Lord Inquisitor B Joseph H. **I created the deck from scratch, but the overal character was made by that guy.**

 **Also, I feel like I should reiterate guys: No Archetypes that strongly involve or slightly involve or rely on Synchros, Tuners, Xyz, or Pendulums. If it's an Archetype or monster that existed before those summons' introductions, then that's fine, but no monsters that highly involve those special summons.**

 **That is all for now.**

 **Thanks for the reads and reviews and keep rockin'!**


	5. Arc 1 - Turn 5: Step into the Shadows I

**And now we have commenced next chapter! I hope you all enjoy! Sorry it's been so long. After some tough love by a friend and praise by one of my favorite Yugioh authors, Hiyuusha, I decided to get right back in the saddle. However, I might just skip over writing duels unrelated to Shirou...coz fuck'em. :3**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

 **Arc 1 - Turn 5: Step into the Shadows Part 1**

 _...She woke up screaming, calling for her mother._

 _She continued screaming for what seemed like hours, the repeating words of the hellish marionette playing over and over in her head. She begged and pleaded for mercy, wishing for the night to end._

 _There was a knock at her door and, for a brief, foolish second, her chest filled with hope..._

 _And then the unheavenly scratching against the door._

 _Her eyes widened in horror, the knob on the other side being turned ever so slightly, the door being pushed open._

 _She immediately hid on the other side of the bed, praying to whatever God would listen for mercy, taking cover under her bed, flinching with every single step the unseen figure took. She crawled back, trying to keep as far away from the edge of her bed as possible._

 _That was when something brushed up against her leg._

 _Every muscle in her body tensed. Trembling in terror, she slowly turned her head, staring into the horrific, inhuman yellow eyes that met her gaze._

 _The demonic marionette gave a large, broken grin, greeting her slowly. "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Yukiiiiiiii...!"_

 _The girl tried to scream again, but a thousand dark, wooden limbs show out of the shadows underneath her bed, slowly dragging her deeper into the darkness, the marionette's haunting laughter being the last sounds she ever heard as she was dragged into the deepest pits of the netherworld!_

[EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!]

Syrus and Chumley immediately clung to one another, screaming like little girls as the story came to an end, the terror increased by the ominous appearance the shadows projected onto Chelia's face by her flashlight gave her. If they had the agility to do so, they likely would have jumped so high from the scare that they would have been shoved halfway through the ceiling.

The entire room had entered a deathly silence, nobody saying a word. Chelia lowered her head, seeming suddenly uncomfortable.

Well, except for Jaden, who was presently laughing his hind off. "Man! That story was pretty great!" Jaden praised, grinning. "You had me on the edge of my seat for a while there!" He picked up the card on the table, a level 5 monster. "That's one Cybertech Alligator for you."

"T-Thank you!" Chelia said, shyly accepting the card from the brunette. "R-Really, I'm not in it for the cards. I-I'm just having fun d-doing stuff like this."

"T-T-Told you it was a great idea!" Shirou's voice said, praising both Chelia and her horror story-making abilities.

"Yeah! True that-!" Jaden paused when he realized something. It was then that everyone came to realize that the boy with the delinquent-like face was nowhere to be seen. "Hey...uh...Shirou? Where did you go, buddy?" It was then that he heard the sound of the ceiling creaking above them. Jaden had only needed to look up, observing the out-of-place snow-haired young man clinging to the ceiling, his fingers digging into the wood. "...Oh..."

The sight was so surprising that even Chumley and Syrus, who were both trembling in terror at the conclusion of the story, looked up in confusion and wonder.

"What are you doing up there, Shirou?" The blue-haired boy asked.

A shaky laugh escaped Shirou's lips. "O-Oh, y-you know! J-Just hangin' around! Hehe...Get it?"

Not even the crickets responded to his bland, unoriginal joke.

The boards he had dug his fingers into creaked for several moments...then they succumbed to his weight, breaking in half and letting gravity, the smug prick, throw him against the ground.

"Ah f***!" Shirou winced in pain as his entire back became one giant bruise. He tried to sit up, but his body was still too deep in shock. "Ugh...dammit..."

"Here." Shirou raised his head slightly to see Chelia awkwardly extending her hand out to him. Shirou smiled softly before stretching out his arm to meet hers, grasping her hand and allowing her to help pull him back to his feet. She scratched her cheek as Shirou brushed the dust from his pants. "You really don't like scary stories, do you, Mr. Fujimura?"

"Pfft! What?!" Shirou said, laughing off the matter unconvincingly. "Please! I ain't scared of nothin'!"

"Is that so?" asked a voice behind him.

"EEEEEK!" Shirou, again, shot towards the ceiling, trembling as his nails dug into the material.

"Oh come now, Shirou, surely I am not that scary?" Shirou blinked several times, looking down (up?) at the smiling face of the dorm master, Professor Banner. "Also, could you not tear out the ceiling there? I'm afraid we don't have the budget to repair this place."

Shirou looked up (down?), noticing how deep his fingers were in the ceiling. "Oh...Sorry." He didn't think it through very much before he removed his fingers, nothing else anchoring him to the ceiling. He fell...again. "Owww..."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The good professor laughed at Shirou's comical reaction. "Can I join in on this fright fest?"

"You just did!" Shirou shouted, eyes wide. "Seriously! How did none of us notice you before!? You snuck up on us like a-like a-"

"Like a ghost?" Syrus suggested.

"SYRUS! Don't EVER say that word again!"

"What? Why-"

"EVER!"

A long, awkward silence ensued after that, nobody quite sure how to respond to something like that.

Shirou turned to the Professor. "Anyway, about joining in, sure. The more the merrier." He said calmly. "The game works like this: You draw a card from the deck on that table there and, the higher level it is, the scarier your story has to be. If you tell a scary enough story, the card is yours. Spell and Trap cards don't have a fixed value. The difficulty will depend on the utility and rarity of the card."

"Oh, well that certainly sounds easy enough!" Prof. Banner said mirthfully. "Let's see..." Prof. Banner drew a card from the top of the deck of cards, flipping it over to reveal a monster known only in the legends of one of history's greatest duelists, the Five-Headed Dragon, a level 12 monster that has only ever been defeated by Seto Kaiba, Yugi Muto, and Joey Wheeler and even then none of them were able to defeat it alone.

"Wait! How did that get in there!?" Shirou snapped, eyeing the card in wonder.

"That's a level 12 monster!"

"But more importantly, do you know how rare it is!?" Shirou added, practically drooling. "I mean, are none of us going to question why we're giving away a card like that?! Seriously! With a card like that, it could really suit up my deck! I would need Polymerization or Dragon's Mirror, but seriously!" He paused when said card was dropped down right in front of him. Shirou stared at Banner, confused.

"If you want it, it is yours." He said politely, smiling.

Shirou sighed, lowering his head. "Tempting, but I can't. It goes to the person who tells a scary story matching it's level."

"So if I win it and then give it to you, it would be fine?"

"You sound confident." Shirou said, smirking. "There's no scary story worthy of a level 12 monster."

"What about Jaden's story about how he heard spirits?" Syrus pointed out. "You wouldn't come down from the ceiling for at least ten minutes after that one."

"SHUT UP, SYRUS!" Shirou snapped, terror showing in his eyes as he curled in a ball, trembling. "There's no such thing as ghosts!"

"Well, duh." Jaden agreed, blissfully unaware of the meaning in Shirou's tone.

"Oh I wouldn't say that..." Prof. Banner said, still smiling even as all of the students' went wide in shock. "Have any of you ever heard of the Abandoned Dorm at the end of the island?"

Chelia raised her hand. "I h-have! It's that old, run-down building in the forbidden area. St-Students are f-forbidden from entering w-which I guess is why the area's c-called forbidden and-"

"Yes, yes. Very good, Ms. West." Prof. Banner, clearly attempting to save the ominous atmosphere. "Yes, no one talks about it, but there was once a special dorm set at the edge of the forest. It was shut down after several students mysteriously went missing."

Syrus gulped. "Where'd they all go?"

"Well that's the mystery of it," Banner answered, "but the rumor was that it had something to do with Shadow Games."

"Thanks! You can stop now!" Chumley said, somehow having found a hiding place behind the table at the furthest end of the room.

"You see, kids, Shadow Games are duels played with powerful, mystical items."

"Millenium Items, right?" Jaden asked with a disbelieving yawn. "I heard about this, but it's not true."

Banner let out a cheerful laughter. "Yes, that is what most people say, but the thing about most stories is that they all have to come from somewhere."

In the professor's arms, his cat, Pharaoh, let out a sleepy meow.

"Well, I think that is my cue to get back home," Prof. Banner said with a polite smile. "Mr. Fujimura, if you would be so kind, could you please escort Ms. West back to her dorm?"

"Huh?" Shirou raised a brow. "No way! I learned my lesson the last time I got near that crazy house!"

""Last time"?" Prof. Banner wondered, causing Shirou to tense as he realized his error.

"Um-Nothing!" He immediately jumped from his seat, grabbing Chelia by her arm and dragging her alongside him. "Let's go get you home, Chelia!"

"Uwah?!" The panicked Obelisk Blue could offer no real resistance as she was pulled right out the door with him.

* * *

"We're lost..."

"We're not lost!" Shirou argued as he navigated his way through the heavy brush. "I've just found a hundred ways that don't lead where we want to go."

"You're parodying Edison."

"It's more of a reference."

After leaving the Slifer Red dorm to escort Chelia back to the girls' dorm, Shirou had had the brilliant of idea of straying from the path to find a shortcut.

And by "brilliant", the intended meaning was actually "stupid". "Rash" and "irresponsible" were good words too.

Every five seconds, they had to stop because Chelia would hear a noise or trip over a tree root. The trip was quite the strain on Shirou's patience.

"Mr. Fujimura," Chelia said after what must have been twenty minutes of silence.

"What?" Shirou asked bitterly.

Chelia flinched, causing Shirou to get a good idea on how harsh he had been.

"Sorry...Was there something you wanted to say?"

Chelia shifted nervously. "W-Well, it's just...Th-Th-Thank you for i-inviting me to h-h-hang out with you and your fr-friends...!"

Shirou shrugged. "Don't mention it. We're friends too, y'know."

Chelia blushed. "W-W-W-We are?"

"Of course," Shirou said. "Even if you're a shy little klutz, I think that-WHOA!"

Whatever meaningful or well-intentioned thought Shirou planned on speaking was cut short when the ground caved in under him, causing him to fall into a deep pit someone had dug below.

"Mr. Fujimura!" Chelia crawled to the pit's edge, looking down at the collapsed, white-haired boy at the bottom. "Mr. Fujimura! Are you alright?!"

"Just dandy..." Shirou groaned out, getting himself into a sitting position. "Who the Hell dug this hole here...?"

SPLAT!

That was when something soft smacked Shirou in the back of his head. "What the Hell...?" He reached back to touch the odd substance that had wet his hair, noticing a distinct brown coloring his fingers.

That was when a familiar animalistic scream filled his ears, causing Shirou to turn his head to the other side of the pit, noticing two monkeys dancing around the edge, making noises as they pointed (leaving Shirou with the impression they were laughing at him).

There was another splat, this time the brown substance hitting him right in the face.

Shirou frowned. "Chelia...Please tell me that this is mud."

"It's mud," Chelia answered.

"Really?" Shirou asked, wiping his face on his sleeve.

However, Chelia had already turned away, trying to find some sort of vine or ladder to reach down to Shirou with. "Just g-give me a moment, Mr. Fujimura...! I'll find a way to get you out!"

A tired sigh escaped Shirou's mouth. "Nah...Nah...Just go ahead and head on back to your dorm. You'll get in trouble if you're found out past curfew."

"But won't you get in trouble too, Mr. Fujimura?"

"Yeah," Shirou confirmed, "but I'm _always_ in trouble, so it's no big difference. You, on the other hand, should keep your nose clean."

His words seemed to perplex Chelia, the girl reaching curiously for her nose, causing Shirou to face-palm.

"It's a figure of speech."

Chelia looked around nervously. "A-Are you sure, Mr. Fujimura...?" She asked. "I mean-"

Shirou waved off her concern. "Nah, it's fine. I'll get out of here at some point. You'll see." Another SPLAT. "...And when I do, I'm making monkey soup out of those goddamned chimps!" His screaming and flailing must have been frightening, because the two monkeys quickly retreated from the edge of the hole, back into the depths of the forest.

"...I-I-If you s-say so..." Chelia stood up but edged back towards the hole, staring at Shirou uncertainly.

"Goooooo!" Shirou said, making frantic gestures with his arms. "Shoo! Shoo! It's far too late for a dame like you to be wandering about! I'll be fine!"

Chelia hesitated a bit more before nodding, bowing in apology. "Thank you very much, M-Mr. Fujimura!" With that, Chelia ran off as instructed, leaving Shirou alone in his pit, arms crossed and a pensive expression on his face.

"Now how do I get out of here...?" Shirou took a seat on the ground, legs crossed. "I could always try digging my way out...but it'd be quite the mess if this thing collapsed in on itself...Hmmm..."

He just at there for what must have been an hour, thinking to himself.

"I could try digging deeper and then dig a hole through the base...but how long would that take..." Shirou sighed. Even after an hour of thinking, no idea had made itself known to him. "...Maybe I should just wait here til morning. Someone's bound to find me...right?"

"IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Any suggestion of patience was immediately forgotten from his mind as a blood-curdling scream ripped through the air.

Shirou's eyes widened. "Chelia!" He looked at the towering pit-side in front of him. "...Caution to the wind then!" Shirou took a few steps back before charging forward, leaping into the air with his hand open to grasp the side of the pit. To his credit, he managed to grasp the edge, but the soil was too loose, causing it to crumble and Shirou to slide back to the bottom onto _his_ bottom. "Ow...Alright. Let's try this again, but _successully_ this time!" Shirou took another few steps back, moving down to almost a crouch before breaking into a sprint, hopping and planting his feet on the side of the pit before bouncing himself in the opposite direction, draping his arms over the opposite side of the pit he had been facing.

With a grunt of strain, Shirou pulled himself over the edge, heaving deep breaths as he flopped flat on his back from the effort.

"That was...significantly easier than expected..." Shirou panted out. He quickly jumped to his feet, stumbling a few times before looking around. "Now where'd that scream come from...?"

Shirou closed his eyes, trying to remember the feeling of the odd aura Chelia gave off. Even after their duel together, he could still get weird feelings every now and then.

It was nowhere near as strong, but it was like he could feel a person's "essence" so to speak. He couldn't really explain it as he himself wasn't even sure what it was. It didn't react to everybody. It reacted slightly to Jaden, showing him an oddly mixed gray and red color...like gentle darkness and burning spirit had a baby. But that was only when he really focused. The only person he could sense normally was Chelia for reasons he couldn't understand.

"There!" Having finally locked onto a presence, Shirou rushed forward without thinking, smacking away any brush that got in his way. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Shirou skidded to a stop, almost tripping over himself.

He took a moment to catch his breath, taking a good look at his surroundings.

"...Huh?" However, was surprised to find nothing but an empty area...Empty except for a discarded duel disk and scattered cards as well as-

"So sorry~ I wasn't aware anyone else was around~!" He was a boy with with black hair that covered his forehead, his right bang being predominantly longer and swept off to the side, along with red eyes, and the Duel Academy Uniform for Slifer Red. In contrast to most students Shirou had observed, the youth wore his jacket open to reveal a black shirt with a pair of dark jeans and a belt that kept them from falling off, complete with a pair of worn-out sneakers. He also wore a black jacket with a fur lining over his uniform. "I hope I didn't startle you. Though, truth be told, you and that girl from earlier were the ones who gave _me_ a start, so I don't quite know why I'm the one apologizing." However, the youth paused, as if just recognizing Shirou. "Ara? I know you. You're the boy with the interesting eyes from the exams." A wide, pleasant smile broke across the braided youth's face. "I've actually been wanting to meet _you_ for a long time, Shi-Shi~!"

Shirou sweatdropped. ""Shi-Shi"?"

The unknown Slifer youth tapped his chin, smiling. "I've been interested in you ever since I saw you draw upon that interesting power of yours."

"My...power?" Shirou narrowed his eyes. He wasn't sure what it was exactly, but something about this guy...

"Oh, apologies," The Slifer student said, giving a theatrical bow. "My name is Xander. I really have been wanting to meet you~"

"I can't say the feeling's mutual," Shirou responded hostilely, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "You mentioned you encountered a girl earlier. Did she have a scar on her face?"

"Indeed she did," Xander confirmed, tilting his head to the side. "I was actually quite interested in her at first, but she turned out to be quite boring once you broke through that icy shell of hers."

Shirou's eyes widened slightly before narrowing with renewed hostility towards the student in front of him. "What did you do to her?"

"What? Who? Me? Couldn't be~ Then who~?" Xander smiled brightly before revealing a card from his sleeve which slid into the palm of his hand. "Yeah, I did it~ I have your friend right here~"

"What...?" Shirou gasped at the card Xander held in his hand. It was not a duel monsters card, but rather, it was a card bearing the disturbing image of Chelia, her expression contorted in terror and her hand extended forward. Shirou smacked Xander's hand away, his expression more infuriated than before. "Stop playing games and tell me what you did with her!"

Xander pursed his lips, confused. "But I just showed you. Your dear Chelia is right here~" Xander again gestured to the card in his hand.

"Is this some kind of joke to you!?"

"Not at all, my dear friend," Xander said, stepping away casually away from Shirou. "What you seek is quite literally in front of your eyes."

"I don't...I don't understand..."

Xander withdrew the card, sighing while giving a shrug. "Stop me if you've heard this story before; It all began with a little something called a "Shadow Game"."

"Shadow Game..." Shirou tightened his fists, marching up to Xander and grabbing him by the collar. "Don't give me that garbage! I don't believe in any stupid Shadow Games or duel spirits or anything like that! Now tell me what the Hell you did with Chelia!"

Again, Xander sighed, giving a tired smile. "I guess the only way to get my point across is to show you..." A smirk appeared on his face. "...in a Shadow Game of course~" Xander raised his legs, using Shirou as a kickboard to back-flip a great distance away, pulling out a duel disk. "If you want your girlfriend back, you'll have to defeat me in a duel first~!"

"First, she's not my girlfriend," Shirou argued, his face pinking slightly. "Second," He drew out his duel disk, a determined expression on his face, "you're on! I'll defeat you and then you'll tell me what I want to know!"

Xander smirked. "Excellent! I really am interested in seeing what a rarity among the humans I love like you can do!"

Both shuffled their decks and activated their duel disks.

[Duel!]

 **Shirou: 4000 LP**

 **Xander: 4000 LP**

"Let _me_ kick off this little game of ours, Shi-Shi~" Xander said cutely (much to Shirou's open disgust), using his middle finger to slide a card out from its slot. He examined the card closely before smiling pleasantly. "First, I summon Archfiend Soldier to the field as a guard." A horned, humanoid creature draped in a cape appeared on the field (4/ATK: 1900/DEF: 1500), draping its cape over its body protectively (4/DEF: 1500). "And then I end my turn."

Shirou frowned. 'His monster's ATK points are higher than its DEF points. Why would he summon it in defense?' However, he disregarded this uneasy feeling in his chest before drawing a card. "I summon Alexandrite Dragon to the field!" The gem-coated Dragon roared as it appeared on the field (4/ATK: 2000/DEF: 100). "And now I'll used my Dragon to total your Archfiend Soldier! Go!" A beam of light gathered in Alexandrite Dragon's mouth before being unleashed in a steady beam, decimating Archfiend Soldier with easy.

Despite this event, Xander's closed-eyed smile did not budge in the slightest.

Shirou grit his teeth before two reverse-cards appeared on the field. "I'll end with two face-downs. Go ahead."

Xander clicked his tongue, wagging his finger at Shirou in disapproval. "Not a strong start, Shi-Shi. You're going to want to do a lot better if you want to save your frieeeend~" Xander reached into his blazer and pulled out the card containing Chelia's terrified face.

A vicious growl rumbled in Shirou's throat as Xander drew his next card.

"Now, let's see here~" Xander's hand waved over the cards in his hand before picking the one he just drew. "This will do nicely~!" He slapped a card into the spell/trap zone, a card turning face-up on the field, revealing the image of a green vase-like object with a fiendish visage. "I activate Pot of Greed and, thanks to that, I get to draw 2 cards!" Xander drew two additional cards from the top of his deck, increasing the total number of cards he had in his hands to 7. "Now let me introduce you to the "Shadows" of our little Shadow Game~ I activate the field spell, Yomi!"

A black mist spewed from the blue-green-framed card that appeared on the field, the black mist gradually consuming all of their surroundings to the point the only things they could see in the darkness were each other and their Duel Disks. The darkness consumed any speck of light that might have illuminated it, obscuring even the moon and starts of the night sky.

Shirou knew of the card Xander had played, but something about this world...it felt _wrong_.

He desperately wanted to move, to step out into the darkness, if only to confirm that the real ground was still there. But he couldn't shake off that feeling...

If he stepped into the darkness, he wouldn't be coming back.

"What's wrong, Shi-Shi~?" Xander teased, still smiling despite the suffocating void they were dueling in. "Afraid of the dark?"

Shirou was unnerved by the field spell, but he didn't want to let Xander know that. He just shrugged it off. After all, no matter what Xander said, there was no such thing as ghosts. It was just a normal duel...

...Right?

"In that case, give me a turn or two~ I'll be sure to crank that fear factor right up~" Xander said, laying down a card onto his duel disk "I'm leaving a monster and another card face-down~ Your move~!" A reverse-card appeared behind the defense position monster.

Shirou nodded, adding another card to his hand. "I'll start my turn by summoning out Marauding Captain in ATK mode!" An armored man carrying a sword appeared on the field (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 400) "And thanks to his ability, I can summon out another monster! So, I'm going to bring out Lesser Dragon!" A wingless lizard-like creature with dark-green scales erupted from the ground in a rage (4/ATK: 1200/DEF: 1000). "Now! Alexandrite Dragon! Attack! Gem-Flash Cannon!"

Alexandrite Dragon raised its head before unleashing a heavy beam of light at the face-down monster.

Shirou was able to catch the glimpse of a blue-headed humanoid with a golden torso before it exploded into pieces.

However, it didn't end there. A green, gaseous substances suddenly filled the air, causing Shirou to cover his mouth with his sleeve. Alexandrite Dragon wasn't so lucky.

The Dragon's scales began to chip, the beast's face beginning to show more wear than it had moments before, its legs trembling with the threat of giving way beneath it.

"What's going on with Alexandrite Dragon?!"

"Allow me to explain." Xander waved at his field. "The monster you just destroyed was Slate Warrior and, when he's destroyed by battle, I can decrease the ATK and DEF of the monster who destroyed him by 500 points!"

Alexandrite Dragon let out a sickly roar as more of its scales began to chip off (4/ATK: 1500/DEF: 0).

Shirou grit his teeth in frustration. "You may think you've got the upper-hand, but I still have two monsters and your field is wide open!" Shirou extended his hand. "Go! Lesser Dragon, attack him directly!"

The green dragon rushed forward, claws bared towards Xander.

"Trap activate!" Xander snapped his fingers, causing his reverse-card to flip face-up, revealing a purple-framed card with the image of a blast blocked by a barrier. "Negate Attack! It's all in the name, so I'm sure I don't need to explain what it does~"

Lesser Dragon's claws came within a mere inch of Xander before bouncing off an invisible barrier that propelled the beast back to where it came from.

"And thanks to that, your battle phase is now over~" Xander pointed out, waving. "So sorry~!"

"Whatever." Shirou narrowed his eyes. "You're still open, so don't get too cocky! I'll make you tell me where Chelia is!"

Xander pouted. "Aww~ Don't tell me you still don't believe me~?" Xander showed the card with Chelia's image once more. "I already told you: She's right here~"

But Xander's response only further angered Shirou. "Fine! If you don't want to talk, I'll beat the answers out of you! I end my turn!" However, something bugged him. It was a small thought nagging at him from the back of his mind, 'If he had Negate Attack to begin with, why didn't he use it to save his monster? With Yami on the field, and Slate Warrior's natural ATK at 1900, it could've easily taken down Alexandrite Dragon...so why didn't he?'

Something about this reeked of trickery.

"Alrighty then~!" Xander drew a card, adding it to his hand before smiling. "Now, I think I'll summon Grave Protector in attack mode!" A pair of red-orange arms shot from the ground, clawing their way upward followed by a chained body comprised of many mouths and several eyes. The faces of the damned (4/ATK: 0/DEF: 2000). Black mist began to swirl around the Grave Protector's body, filling it with an evil power (4/ATK: 200/DEF: 2200).

"Why would you summon that thing in ATK mode?" Shirou asked, raising his guard. Even a novice wouldn't have summoned out a monster with such low ATK and such high DEF. It would've been more efficient to lay it face-down and trick Shirou into causing damage to himself by attacking.

"Just so I can have a little fun~" Xander placed another card on the field, a card flipping face-up, depicting a knight with a sword and shield circled by red and blue arrows respectively. "I activate the spell, Sword & Shield, which allows me to switch the ATK and DEF points of all monsters on the field!"

"But then that means-" Shirou looked in horror at the state of his monsters. Marauding Captain's armor began to crack (3/ATK: 400/DEF: 1200), Lesser Dragon seemed to tremble, feeling weak (4/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1200), and Alexandrite Dragon's crystalline shell crumbled entirely, leaving a lavender-colored back exposed (4/ATK: 0/DEF: 1500).

"That's right, Shi-Shi~" Xander gave a peace sign, doing a gesture that appeared to have been a wink even though both of his eyes were closed. "Now my Grave Protector is the top-dog here~" Grave Protector let out an inhuman roar as its body began to swell, the chains around his body shattering to pieces as the dark aura surrounding him intensified (4/ATK: 2200/DEF: 200).

No matter how much Shirou tried to ignore it, the feeling was too intense. It was like he saw the outline of something terrible around Xander and his monster. Not a shape, but rather a invisible aura surrounding him. Similar to the one that surrounded Chelia when they first dueled. Back then, the sensation he had gotten from Chelia were like weak ocean waves, washing over him quickly and receding further back each time, giving off a feeling of sadness and loneliness. Despite this, it was never hostile. But Xander's aura was different. It was black but somehow contrasted against the darkness surrounding them...

And far more malicious.

And that was when an uncomfortably large grin broke across Xander's face. "Now go, Grave Protector! Put that Alexandrite Dragon six feet under!"

Grave Protector let out another shriek that made Shirou's very core trembled before lunging forward at the weakened dragon, a powerful collection of black mist covering its fist.

It struck Alexandrite Dragon square in the chest, the beast not even able to let out a roar as Grave Protector's fist crashed through it, continuing on a straight course for Shirou.

He didn't know what to expect.

Everything felt wrong...

And when Grave Protector struck him, it felt so much worse.

His stomach _physically_ caved under the force of the creature's fist.

 _Real_ force.

 _Real_ pain.

He was so in shock that he only vaguely remembered tumbling across the ground, falling flat on his face, resisting the urge to vomit.

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Xander: 4000 LP**

"Tsk tsk tsk, Shi-Shi~" Xander taunted. "I really expected better of someone from _that_ family."

Shirou coughed, pushing himself up while clutching his stomach in pain. "What the Hell was _that_!?" He yelled. "That...That actually hurt!"

"Of course, Dum-Dum," Xander said obviously, spreading his arms outwards as a theatrical gesture, "That's why they call it a "Shadow Game"! Do you still think I'm joking?"

It was then that there was no doubt in Shirou's mind.

It was hard to stay in doubt considering the ten tons of pressure that just socked him in the gut.

A soft, animal-like whine filled his ears, causing Shirou to look beside him to see the translucent form of a blue dragon hovering beside him.

"Decoy Dragon...?" Shirou lowered his head. "You're really here aren't you..." Another soft squeal. "And this is really a Shadow Game, isn't it...?" The spirit gave a sad nod. "...Which also means that he really has Chelia's soul captive in that card." Decoy Dragon nodded again. He let out a pained whine before getting up to his feet, choking back the pile that rose up in his throat. "Then that just gives me all the more reason to kick this guy's ass!" Shirou raised his duel disk in defiance, glaring daggers at Xander.

"Ooh, spunky~ I like it!" Xander teased. "Most people would be completely petrified at the thought of their imminent demise by this point in time, but you-YOU, sir, are a gem! Bravo!" The most irritating thing was the fact that Xander _meant_ his praise and the subsequent clapping. "Now, don't worry your pretty little face! My monster's ability actually does you a favor. When a monster is destroyed in battle while it's on the field, they are instead returned to the deck, which is then shuffled! With that, I think I'll end my turn with a face-down." A reverse-card appeared behind Grave Protector. "And with the end of my turn, all of our monsters' ATK points return to normal."

Grave Protector: 200 ATK

Lesser Dragon: 1200 ATK

Marauding Captain: 1200 ATK

"My turn!" Shirou drew a card, adding it to his hand. "And now I think I'll go ahead and take out your Grave Protector with my Marauding Captain!" The armored man lunged forward, crossing his blades in an X-shape across Grave Protector's torso, causing the fiend to shriek before exploding into dust. Shirou stared, waiting for something to happen, but found Xander completely unmoved. "Huh? How come your life points didn't go down?!"

Xander smiled, his face-down flipping face-up. "It's all thanks to the trap I laid down earlier! Spirit Barrier!" An image of a mage firing a blast at a man was framed by purple, the man acting as a shield to take the attack. "Thanks to this baby, my point points don't go down so long as I have a monster defending them~! In short, I take no battle damage from Grave Protector's destruction~!"

Shirou sneered, but didn't argue. "In that case, I'll just go ahead and attack directly with Lesser Dragon!" The wing-less Dragon let out a roar, lashing out at Xander with its claws, slashing him across his front, his clothes tearing from the strike and blood being drawn.

"Augh!" Although there was a temporary expression of pain, it was quickly replaced by the previous, pleasant smile albeit a little pained.

 **Shirou: 1800 LP**

 **Xander: 2800 LP**

"Doesn't feel so good to be on the receiving end, does it?"

"On the contrary," Xander denied, "I never feel more alive than I do when I'm dueling to the death!" The smile on his face that he showed then in response, Shirou had no doubt it would haunt his nightmares for some time to come. "Come at me with everything you got! Show me the spirit of the humans I adore so much!"

"Buddy," Shirou spat, "you have a _sick_ definition of adoration!" Shirou eyed the cards in his hand: Draconnection, Monster Reincarnation, and Cemetery Change. He didn't have any dragon monsters in his hand nor did he have any monsters in the graveyard as Alexandrite Dragon was sent back to his deck, and Cemetery change required a 1000 life point payment that he could not afford to make. Face-down on the field, he had Burst Breath and Dragon's Rage, both useless because he didn't have a Dragon on the field strong enough to make use of either. "...Ugh. I end my turn."

"Draw!" Xander stared at the card before smiling. "A lucky day for you, Shi-Shi~! I'm activing the spell card, Upstart Goblin!" A card flipped face-up, revealing a blue-green framed image of a withered, elderly man groveling in front of a goblin in royal garb. "This card allows me to draw an additional card from my deck and, in exchange, you gain 1000 life points!"

 **Shirou: 2800 LP**

 **Xander: 2800 LP**

Shirou raised a brow in confusion. "Why would you use a card that gives me more life points?"

"A few reasons, actually," Xander admitted, "the first reason being that I truly do enjoy toying with you like this. It would be boring if I ended this before you saw the real tricks I'm hiding up my sleeve~"

'What could he mean by that...?' A drop of sweat rolled down the side of Shirou's face.

He knew for a fact that this Shadow Game was for real. He also had a vivid imagination of what would happen to him if he got hit seriously. In this game, he wouldn't even need to lose all of his life points in order to face defeat. If damage taken was real, then...

Shirou had to keep his guard up.

"Next I think I'll activate the spell card, Foolish Burial!" A card depicting a hand holding a shovel sticking out of the ground in front of a tombstone. "With this card, I can send one monster from my deck to the graveyard!" Xander pulled his deck out, looking through his cards before pulling one out and putting it into his graveyard slot. He quickly shuffled his deck and put it back in. "And then I'll lay one monster face-down." A set monster appeared on the field in front of him. "That's the end of my turn."

"Draw!" Shirou examined the card closely. "And I'll play the card I just drew!" A spell card depicting a dragon's foot smashing down on a building. "Stamping Destruction! And this baby allows me to take out one of your spell or trap cards so long as I have a Dragon-type monster on the field and, thanks to lesser Dragon, that condition has been fulfilled!"

Xander braced himself as his Spirit Barrier completely shattered, leaving only his set monster on the field. The shockwave blew him back several inches, but

"And, on top of that, you take 500 points of damage!"

 **Shirou: 2800 LP**

 **Xander: 2300 LP**

"And now I'm going to go ahead and attack your face-down monster with my Marauding Captain!" Marauding Captain lunged forward, stabbing his sword downward into the set card, a brief image of a small, gray, goblin-like creature being seen before exploding.

"Sorry, Shi-Shi, but you'll find you're going to have a much harder time taking out my defenses than that," Xander taunted. "The monster you destroyed was my Spear Cretin! And when he's flipped over by any means, we both get to summon back a monster in face-up ATK mode or face-down DEF mode! And since you don't have any monsters in your grave, I'm afraid I'm the only person who will be taking advantage of this!" Another set card appeared in the monster zone. "But, by all means, please continue~"

Shirou growled before extending his hand. "Your turn, Lesser Dragon! Attack his face-down!" The green lizard lunged forward, digging its claws into Xander's face-down monster.

"Bad caaall~" Xander's face-down card flipped face-up, revealing a small jar from which a grinning, shadowy face leaped out, immediately being eviscerated by Lesser Dragon's claws before exploding into dust. "The monster you just destroyed is known as Morphing Jar. And thanks to its abilities, we both discard all of the cards in our hands to the graveyard," Xander explained, sending his one card to the grave, "and we both draw a fresh hand to boot."

"What?!" Shirou's eyes widened. "But when did Morphing Jar get sent to the grave-" However, he realized it before he even finished the question. "Foolish Burial! Morphing Jar's the monster you sent from your deck to the graveyard!"

"That's right~!" Xander agreed, drawing a new hand.

Shirou discarded the three cards in his hands before drawing five new cards, mirrored by Xander. Shirou examined his new hand wearily. "I end my turn with a face-down." Another reverse-card appeared in Shirou's spell/trap zone.

"Goodie~" Xander cheered, drawing a card. "My turn! And I have a handful of new toys to play with!" A card flipped face-up onto the field, depicting a grim reaper with an axe. "And I activate the spell card, Shallow Grave, allowing both of us to take one of our monsters from our graveyard and lay it face-down! And what do you know, I'm the only one who gets to have a little fun with this!" A set monster appeared on Xander's field. "And I'm going to activate another spell card, Allure of Darkness! This allows me to draw 2 cards as long as I remove from play one Dark monster from my hand!" Xander drew two cards and then removed one from his hand. Another spell card immediately flipped face-up, depicting an old man with mixing colors of red and green in his hands. "And next I activate the spell card, Fusion Sage, allowing me to add one Polymerization to my hand from my deck!" Xander pulled out a card from his deck, adding it to his hand.

"You're going to fuse?"

"Not yet," Xander said, wagging his finger. "First I'll play another spell card: Dimensional Fissure!" A spell card depicting a violent tear in the sky leading into a dark void appeared face-up on the field. There was a slight _riiiiiiip_ as a similar-looking void appeared in the sky above Xander's head. "And thanks to this, any monster that would be sent to the graveyard while this card is active is instead removed from play!"

'Removed from play...?' Shirou looked down at the cards in his hand, grasping them tightly. 'That means all of the monsters I have only get one go-round from hereon out until I can find a way to roast his monsters or deal with that spell card of his. Bright side, that means he won't be able to bring any of his monsters back normally either.'

"And now I think I'll go ahead and use that Polymerization to fuse two monsters in my hand!" A spell card depicting two mixing colors, blue and orange-red, appeared on the field. "So, now I'll fuse the Crass Clown and the Dream Clown in my hands so I can fusion summon a new monster!" Two clownish monsters fused together, their aura becoming a greater power with their remnants absorbed by the gaping void that appeared above. An almost cartoonish box appeared on the field, the crank turning and turning until a beaked creature in a jester's outfit popped out (7/ATK: 2300/DEF: 2000). "Meet Bickuribox!" The power of the dark world around them flowed into the demented jack-in-the-box, filling it with wicked power (7/ATK: 2500/DEF: 2200).

"And here I was thinking your monsters couldn't look any fuglier!" Shirou snapped, giving a mocking smile. However, something about what Xander did didn't sit well with him... 'He activates Dimensional Fissure and THEN used fusion? Why not do fusion from the get-go and avoid having his monsters removed...? No doubt it was deliberate, but _why_ is the question...'

"But he won't be sticking around for very long!" Xander said. "Because I'm going to sacrifice him to summon another monster!"

"What?!"

Bickuribox disappeared into glittering lights which were sucked into the gaping void above before another card appeared in its place, a black-clothed mage carrying a spear-like scepter in his hands as he rose to the field (6/ATK: 2400/DEF: 1900). "This is Chaos Command Magician!"

'AGAIN!' Shirou noted. 'Bickuribox had 100 more ATK points than his Chaos Command Magician, but he decided to send it to be removed from play anyway! I just don't get what his endgame is!'

Another soft, animal-like squeal sounded beside him, causing him to stare at the translucent Decoy Dragon beside him.

"Yeah, I know," Shirou said. "I can't afford to lose my nerve now. Chelia's still counting on me."

"And now I think I'll finally attack," Xander said. "Chaos Command Magician, attack! Send his Marauding Captain on to the next life!" Chaos Command Magician extended his scepter, unleashing a large bolt of dark energy in Shirou's direction.

"Not so fast! I activate my trap card!" Shirou's third face-down flipped face-up, revealing the image of a knight with a shield forming a protective barrier around him as he is attacked by a reptilian creature. "Draining Shield!"

"Ah, I've heard of that one," Xander noted, clapping his hands together. "That allows you to not only block my attack, but also gain life points equal to my monster's ATK points, no?"

"That's right," Shirou confirmed. Chaos Command Magician's attack collided with an electrical barrier that appeared in front of his monster, exploding otherwise harmlessly in front of it.

 **Shirou: 5200 LP**

 **Xander: 2300 LP**

"And thanks to that, not only am I pulling ahead in life points, but my monsters are safe too!"

"What a shame," Xander sighed out, shrugging. "I guess that'll do for my turn~"

Shirou only gave a small, acknowledging nod before drawing a card from his deck. A small smile appeared on his face. "First, I'm going to release my Marauding Captain and my Lesser Dragon so I can go ahead and call out an even more powerful monster!" Marauding Captain and Lesser Dragon disappeared into flashes of light, a new monster appearing in their place, heavily armored and carrying a sword meant to slay flying beasts (7/ATK: 2600/DEF: 2300). "And that's not all! I'm going to equip onto him the equip spell, Dragonic Attack, which not only turns my dear Buster Blader into a Dragon-type monster, but it also grants him an additional 500 ATK and DEF points!"

Buster Blader started convulsing violently, two reptilian wings burst out of the back of his armor, his armor becoming more scaly, and a powerful aura surrounding its body (7/ATK: 3100/DEF: 2800).

"And now I'll go ahead and use him to take out your Chaos Command Magician! Go! Dragon Buster Blade!" Buster Blader flew forward, bringing his blade right down the center of Chaos Command Magician's body, the mage shrieking before shattering to pieces.

The shockwave ripped violently against Xander's clothes, scratching his arms and all exposed areas of his body.

 **Shirou: 5200 LP**

 **Xander: 1600 LP**

"You may as well quit now, Xander, because I'm taking you down and I'm taking Chelia back!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Xander said casually, seeming unconcerned with Shirou's claim. "The duel isn't over until the last card is played! Speaking of which, are you done now?"

"Yeah...I end my turn."

"Good," Xander said, his pleasant smiling refusing to slip even a little. "Because I'm going to go ahead and flip my face-down monster!"

The card flipped into face-up attack position, revealing a familiar and still very disturbing smiling face in a jar.

"Morphing Jar again?"

"That's right~ And you know how this works; We both discard our hands and draw new ones!"

Both duelists did just that, Shirou feeling relieved he hadn't had better cards in his hand.

"Ufufu~" Xander let out a small laugh as he examined his new hand. "I hope you had fun while it lasted, Shi-Shi, because it looks like our little game will soon be at an end!"

Shirou tensed. "What are you talking about?"

"I do believe I drew the hand that will finally put an end to this charade, once and for all," Xander said, placing a card onto the field. "First, I will activate Dian Keto the Cure Master, which will give me a much needed boost to my life points!"

 **Shirou: 5200 LP**

 **Xander: 2600 LP**

"And then I'll continue by activating yet another spell: Soul Release!" A spell card depicting an ethereal woman with sparkling hair appeared on the field. "And thanks to this card, I get to remove from play five cards from either of our graveyards! So I'll remove from play five from my own!" Xander let five cards from his graveyard slot slide into his hand before throwing them into the void above to be swallowed. "And next I'll activate the spell card, Graceful Charity!" A spell card depicting an angel carrying a light-coated card flipped face-up. "This allows me to draw three cards from my deck and discard two of them!" Xander added three cards before picking out two others and throwing them upward into the void to join their compatriots. "Now, I think that I've had enough of the appetizers. It's time for the main course! The piece de resistance!" Xander pointed at Shirou, the manic grin on his face, sending severe chills down the white-haired boy's spine. "Time for you to face my most powerful monster!"

CRASH! BOOM!

As unlikely as it would seem, thunder and lightning roared and lit up the darkness, the wind around them beginning to pick up and the atmosphere beginning to feel all the more insufferable. The wind began to feel especially turbulent around Xander, picking up into an almost perfect spiral as he raised one card into the air.

Decoy Dragon started to squeal more anxiously beside Shirou, hiding nervously behind him.

"I've got a bad feeling about this, too!" The black aura around Xander increased exponentially, coming off in suffocating waves that made Shirou want to throw up.

"Behold! Dark devours light and from that darkness is born an even greater despair! A despair from the depth of humanity's beautiful soul!" A demonic visage began to phase out of the endless avoid torn into the air above him, a hunched figure cloaked in absolute darkness crawling out from the deepest pits of Hell. Sharp spines covered its arms and a black mane trailed down its back. When the creature stepped out in full, it let out an earth-shattering roar, spreading out its full and dragonic wings (4/ATK: ?/DEF: ?). "Tremble before my beast of darkness, Doomsday Horror!"

Sweat was pouring down Shirou's face by that point, the monster Xander summoned being large enough to crush him with a single foot.

Enormous amounts flowed from the Dimensional Fissure in the sky and gathered around the beast, being devoured by its gaping maw, turning into an even greater and more threatening aura surrounding it.

"What...What is this...?"

Xander gave up all pretenses of politeness, a maniacal grin breaking across his face. "THIS is the power of my Doomsday Horror! For every Dark Monster removed from play, he gets 300 ATK points! And between every turn up to this point, I have removed from play a total of eleven!" Doomsday Horror let out another roar, its aura physically engulfing Shirou like a smog cloud (4/ATK: 3300/DEF: 3300). And even more power poured in from the effects of Xander's field spell (4/ATK: 3500/DEF: 3500).

"But that's-"

"More than enough to wipe out your Buster Blader!" Xander agreed. "But that's not all! I'm going to activate another spell card: Double Attack!" A card depicting a knight cutting a wooden doll in half appeared face-up. "And by using this, I can discard one monster from my hand with a higher level than my Doomsday Horror, and he gets to make a second attack this turn!" Xander plucked another monster from his hand before throwing it upward to, again, be devoured by the darkness that contrasted even the dark wasteland around them. More aura poured out, surrounding Doomsday Horror, its size increasing by another few inches (4/ATK: 3800/DEF: 3600).

"3800 ATK points..."

"Now, Doomsday Horror, send his Buster Blader to the abyss!" Doomsday Horror extended its hand, gathering a ball of purple and black demonic energy into the palm of its hand. "Dark Zero Eradication!"

The resulting explosion from Doomsday Horror unleashing its sphere was almost deafening, Buster Blader being swallowed and completely destroyed without a trace, the excess black aura burning Shirou's arms when he tried to brace himself.

 **Shirou: 4500 LP**

 **Xander: 2600 LP**

"And now for the second helping! Once more!" Xander pointed at Shirou, his mind-shattering smile gleaming in the darkness as Doomsday Horror gathered up more power for its second attack. "Dark Zero Eradication!"

Shirou's eyes widened as the second sphere was launched directly at him, engulfing his entire body in a burning darkness that threatened to sear the flesh from Shirou's body.

"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

 **And another chapter done! Xander belongs to Demons Anarchy of Pride!**

 **...**

 **Welp. That's all I got to say.**

 **Thanks for the reads and reviews!**


	6. Arc 1 - Turn 6: Step into the Shadows II

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

 _Last Time on Yugioh GX: Advent of New Hero..._

 _"3800 ATK points..."_

 _"Now, Doomsday Horror, send his Buster Blader to the abyss!" Doomsday Horror extended its hand, gathering a ball of purple and black demonic energy into the palm of its hand. "Dark Zero Eradication!"_

 _The resulting explosion from Doomsday Horror unleashing its sphere was almost deafening, Buster Blader being swallowed and completely destroyed without a trace, the excess black aura burning Shirou's arms when he tried to brace himself._

 _ **Shirou: 4500 LP**_

 _ **Xander: 2600 LP**_

 _"And now for the second helping! Once more!" Xander pointed at Shirou, his mind-shattering smile gleaming in the darkness as Doomsday Horror gathered up more power for its second attack. "Dark Zero Eradication!"_

 _Shirou's eyes widened as the second sphere was launched directly at him, engulfing his entire body in a burning darkness that threatened to sear the flesh from Shirou's body._

 _"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"_

* * *

 **Arc 1 - Turn 6: Step into the Shadows Part 2**

* * *

Shirou had never felt agony like he had as he suffered within the blast of Doomsday Horror's attack.

One time he was tricked into touching a hot stove burner.

This was like that only a million times worse and across his entire body.

When the attack finally faded, his body felt relief as cold air washed around it, his legs buckling and dropping Shirou to his knees. Smoke rose from his clothes and his flesh.

 **Shirou: 700 LP**

 **Xander: 2600 LP**

"I admit," Xander said, "this has been a little more interesting than expected, but nowhere near as interesting as I had _hoped_."

Shirou didn't have a retort. He was too busy panting, his body recoiling from the intense pain it had just endured.

"I can't imagine it felt very nice," Xander said, shaking his head with a sly smile on his face, "having almost your entire life force ripped away from you in one single attack."

Shirou could only pant, clutching his fast-beating heart. "Why are you doing this, Xander...? What do you want out of all of this...?!"

"Me?" Xander asked, gesturing to himself, still grinning. "You act as though I perform these acts out of malice when, in actuality, I only wish to test you."

"Why _me_?"

"Not _you_ specifically, but humanity," Xander stated, only serving to confuse Shirou even more. "You see, humanity is an amazing species. No matter the trial or hardship, they always persevere, a trait that enables them to not only survive, but to evolve!" Xander outstretched his hand. "From light, darkness is born, and from that darkness, despair, and from that despair is born new hope and an even greater lighter light! THAT is what I desire, Shirou! To show the humans I love ultimate darkness and despair! To push them to even greater heights! Do you see now?"

Shirou grit his teeth, stumbling back to his feet. "I see...THAT YOU'RE A TOTAL NUTCASE!" Shirou raised his duel disk in defiance, narrowing his eyes. "All that nonsense about loving humanity and evolution is BULL! All you're doing is hurting people! People who've done nothing to you! And I'm gonna make you pay!"

Xander sighed. "So much sight, so little vision," He said. However, his disappointment quickly turned back into manic glee. "I guess you're not as useful as I though you'd be! Another one of the humans I love who fails to evolve, I suppose. I end my turn."

"Then I'll give it a go!" Shirou drew a card, adding it to his hand. 'I talk tough, but I'm at the end of my rope. Doomsday Horror has 3800 ATK points and all I have are Dragon's Rage and Burst Breath on the field. Even if I did have a Dragon-type monster to use either, his Doomsday Horror would crush it flat. And because of Dimensional Fissure's effect, I can't bring back any of the powerful monsters he removed from play. All I have to rely on right now are the cards in my hand, so I'll have to do whatever I can to stall him and try to make him lose by deck out before I do.' Shirou placed a card on the field. "I lay one monster face-down and set another card face-down behind it and end my turn!" A reverse-card appeared in front of Shirou.

Xander smirked. "What a pitiful move," He taunted before drawing a card, "but it's not as though you had a lot of options. I switch my Morphing Jar to defense mode." He extended his hand. "Now, Doomsday Horror, attack his face-down monster! Dark Zero Eradication!"

Shirou braced himself as the massive behemoth unleashed a new attack on his face-down monster, destroying it without a trace, its essence sucked into the Dimensional Fissure above.

"The monster you destroyed was my Masked Dragon!" Shirou declared. "And when he's destroyed by battle, I get to summon another Dragon-type monster with 1500 or less ATK points from my deck!"

"That'd be the case if he was sent to the graveyard," Xander argued, causing Shirou to freeze, "but thanks to my Dimensional Fissure, your little Dragon is removed from play instead, rendering his effect null and void~!"

Shirou grit his teeth, resisting the urge to smack himself for that oversight.

"No worries, Shi-Shi~" Xander shrugged. "I never really expected you to live up to your father's reputation~"

Shirou tensed, his expression of shock quickly fading to anger. "Don't you _dare_ bring up my father, you bastaaaard!"

"So sorry~ Did I strike a nerve?...Oh well~ I end my turn!"

"Draw!" Shirou examined the card in his hand, a hopeful expression showing on his face. "Alright! I'm activating a spell card!" A blue-green-framed card flipped face-up, depicting several swords floating in the air. "Swords of Revealing Light! And with its ability, I can stop your Doomsday Horror in its track for three whole turns!" Swords made of blinding light appeared in the air around Xander's monsters, embedding in their bodies and pinning them to the ground. 'And now to start building up my defenses...' Shirou placed another card on the field. "I summon Command Knight in DEF mode!" A noble warrior clothed in red armor appeared on the field, kneeling in front of Shirou (4/ATK: 1600/DEF: 1900). "Their ability also increases all Warrior-type monsters' ATK points by 400, but that's a side benefit. Command Knight is also the only Warrior-type you can attack. With that, I end my turn."

"Draw!" Xander added another card to his hand, still smiling. "Nothing of use yet, but your time of reckoning is afoot, Shi-Shi~ Be patient~ I set a card and end my turn~" A reverse-card appeared in front of Xander.

"Draw!" Shirou added a card to his hand. The moment he looked at the card in his hand, his expression became one of shock and, when that faded, hope. "I hope you enjoyed the time your Doomsday Horror spent on the field, because it's going to be completely gone soon!" He placed a card on the field. "I summon Exiled Force to the field!" A group of armed men appeared on the field, bearing various types of blades and armor (3/ATK: 1000/DEF: 1000).

"Oh?" Xander wondered. "And am I supposed to be afraid? I think you may need to retake math because the difference between our monsters' ATK is clear as day."

"That may be," Shirou admitted, "but Exiled Force has one killer ability, Xander! By sacrificing them, I can take out another monster on the field! And the lucky winner is Doomsday Horror!" Shirou extended his hand.

The warriors of Exiled Force let out a battle-cry before launching themselves at Doomsday Horror, sticking their blades into the beast's flesh wherever they could. The beast of darkness did its best to swat them away, to no avail. One brave warrior leaped into the air and embedded his sword right in the beast's skull, causing it to roar in pain and outrage before it, as well as the Exiled Force, shattered into pieces.

"Doomsday Horror is gone," Shirou declared with a smirk, "and thanks to your own Dimensional Fissure, there's no comin' back!"

"I wouldn't so suuuure of thaaat~" Xander sang gleefully. "If you would take a look so kindly at the card to my right~" Xander was, of course, referring to the face-up spell card that was on his field, showing a swirling vortex. "Mystical Space Typhoon. I activated it in the midst of your monster's effect to destroy Dimensional Fissure."

Shirou gasped, turning his eyes towards the gaping rift above them which slowly began to sew itself back up. "You destroyed your own spell card?!"

"That's right~" Xander confirmed. "And thanks to that, Doomsday Horror goes to my grave rather than out of the game~!"

Shirou grit his teeth. 'That means he can just bring it back and I'll have to start this whole thing all over again!'

"But you don't have to worry about Doomsday Horror anymore~" Xander said. "Whenever he's destroyed and sent to the graveyard, his ability kick in. This returns all removed from play Dark attribute monsters back to the grave!" Xander pulled out thirteen cards and inserted them into the graveyard slot. "So even if I were to bring Doomsday Horror back, he would be nothing more than a little imp-ling~"

"I see..." Despite his calm tone, Shirou's mind was racing. Even though he had just destroyed Xander's most powerful card, Xander still did not seem fazed in the slightest. If anything, he seemed more cheerful. "Anyway...Next, I switch my Command Knight to ATK mode!" Command Knight stood from its place on the ground, sword bared (ATK: 1600). "Now! Take out his Morphing Jar!" Command Knight rushed forward, Morphing Jar coming out of its jar to meet the knight's charge only to be cut to pieces by their blade and shattering. 'One more turn before Swords of Revealing Light wears off. And Xander has just 2600 life points left. If I can just keep up this momentum before he pulls another big surprise, I might be able to finish this.'

There was a soft whine from the spirit of Decoy Dragon beside him.

"Huh?" Shirou stared at the spirit in confusion. "What's wrong...?" The Dragon-type nudged its face in Xander's direction, causing Shirou to do a double-take.

The dark aura surrounding Xander...Even though Shirou had defeated Doomsday Horror, it had not lessened in the slightest. If anything, it might have increased.

"Does that mean he has something worse than Doomsday Horror...?" Shirou grit his teeth. "Whatever it is, I'll have to keep my guard up...I end my turn!"

Xander's grin widened as he drew his next card. "You may have only intended to end your turn, but I swear to you now, Shirou, that you have just ended your own life! This is the beginning of the end!" He played a card on the field. The card displayed the image of an orange beast with a claw appearing out of a Polymerization card. "I activate Fusion Recovery! Now I get to select one Polymerization and one fusion material monster from my graveyard and add them to my hand." Two cards slid out of the graveyard and into Xander's hand. "And with this, I'll activate Polymerization once more!" Said card flipped face-up onto the field.

"Another fusion summon?" Shirou's eyes widened. "Are you going to summon another clown in a box or something?"

Xander chuckled. "Close, but not quite!" He pulled two monsters from his hand. "By fusing a Fiend-type and a Spellcaster-type monster together, I can summon out a beast far worse than anything you've encountered up to this point!" A pillar of light shot out of the ground, revealing the silhouette which took form of a man dressed in a black cowl with a golden mask, carrying a massive blade with a cross on it (7/ATK: 0/DEF: 0). The dark aura of the world around them surrounded the monster, filling it with dark power (7/ATK: 200/DEF: 200). "This is my monster: Soulless Jester of the Black Court!"

"But...that monster has no ATK points!"

"Shouldn't you know by now that appearances can be deceiving, Shi-Shi~" Xander teased, gesturing to Soulless Jester. "You see, my monster has a special ability. For each Dark attribute monster in my graveyard, he gains 400 ATK and DEF points! And with your invaluable assistance, the number of Dark monsters that live there now number 13! Eat up, my Jester!"

"What!?"

The hooded man opened his mouth and from the ground spewed thirteen spirits that were immediately sucked in and swallowed (7/ATK: 5200/DEF: 5200).

Shirou felt his heart stop entirely at the raw aura the monster exuded, being far worse than anything Doomsday Horror had done. "No way..."

"Ah, but I am afraid it is, in fact, "way", my dear Shirou," Xander said. "You see, you should have used your resources better~ The way you duel is absolutely apalling~ If I had been inclined to do so, I could have ended it at almost any point earlier in our match but I was interested in seeing if you had what it take to evolve from who you were a moment before, but it appears those hopes were for naught~ With your Swords of Revealing Light in play, I cannot attack this turn, but you will only be able to stave off your destruction for so long! You may as well come to grips! I end my turn!"

"Draw!" Shirou added a card to his hand. "And now I'll bring back an old friend! Alexandrite Dragon!" A gem crusted Dragon took to the field, crossing its arms in defense (4/ATK 2000/DEF: 100). "And then I'll switch Command Knight to DEF mode!"

"How dull," Xander complained as the swords surrounding his monsters faded to nothing. "Do I really have to go through with this? It's so tedious...Jester, take out his Command Knight!" The hooded man launched himself forward, swiftly dealing Command Knight a beheading blow.

Even though Command Knight was in DEF mode, the shockwave alone almost knocked Shirou right off his feet.

"And I end my turn~" Xander smiled. "Play your cards as you wish, Shi-Shi~ Try to flop about as you like, but we both know how this ends~!"

"Draw!" Shirou added a card to his hand. "And now I activate Pot of Greed!" A card depicting a jar with an inhuman face appeared on the field. "Now I draw two cards!" Shirou added two cards to his hand. He paused, again completely bamboozled by his incredible luck. If Xander had had any say in it, these cards would have been trashed turns ago...yet there they were. Shirou smirked. "I hate to break it to you, Xander, but it looks like the endings we're both thinking of are to two different stories! I just drew the cards that will ensure my victory!" Shirou turned to the duel spirit by his side. "You think we can handle this?"

Decoy Dragon gave a confident nod.

"Alright then! I summon Decoy Dragon to the field!" A small blue Dragon appeared before Shirou (2/ATK: 300/DEF: 200).

"What's that little blue ball of cute going to do? Adorable me to death?" Xander taunted. "I know its ability, but don't forget you have next to no monsters in your graveyard, none of them a high enough level to satisfy Decoy Dragon's ability~!"

"That may be, but, then again, they don't have to! I activate the spell card, United We stand!" A card depicting two hands stretched out, grasping one another, flipped face-up. "And with this, my Decoy Dragon gains 800 ATK points for every monster on my field!" Decoy Dragon was suddenly enveloped in an overwhelming aura (2/ATK: 1900/DEF: 1800).

"You might want to do the math again, Shi-Shi," Xander taunted "Your pipsqueak of a Dragon stands no chance against my Jester!"

"Wanna bet!?" Shirou placed another card face-down, making it an even four. "Mark me words, Xander! One of these four cards will be your downfall! You have on turn left! One turn to take out the trap that will spell your demise! Are you feeling lucky? It's your move. Don't waste it."

"Oooh~ We're going for a bluff now, are we?" Xander asked, rubbing his chin. "I never took you for the desperate type~Interesting~ Now, what part of this was supposed to be confusing? It's obvious the trap you just laid down. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so confident." He placed a card on the field. "I'm going to activate another Mystical Space Typhoon and take it right out!" A powerful vortex erupted, swallowing Shirou's face-down. Xander frowned as the card stubbornly stood in place. "Why isn't it being destroyed?!"

Shirou smirked. "Isn't it obvious? It's thanks to my other face-down!" A card depicting a creature holding a scroll that read "FALSE" flipped face-up. "I activate Fake Trap!"

.

.

.

Xander paused. "...What?"

Shirou also paused, feeling as though the wind had been taken from his sails a little by Xander's confusion. "...What?...WHAT!?"

"N-Nothing," Xander said, looking genuinely perplex. "I just have never known anyone who for realz used Fake Trap in their deck. Not a single person I have ever dueled ever used Fake Trap."

"Well...Luck you," Shirou said, spitting. "You're about to see someone use it right now! Fake Trap allows me sacrifice it instead of my face-down so long as I confirm that it's a trap!" Shirou's face-down flipped face-up, revealing its violet frame and the image of glowing cubes before flipping face-down again. "And thanks to Fake Trap, my face-down is now safe!" The twister that erupted from Xander's card changed course and targeted Fake Trap, destroying it.

Xander scoffed. "What exactly was the point of that?"

Shirou smirked. "Just making sure you didn't have any other tricks before I pulled out the big guns?"

""Big guns"?" Xander shook his head. "Please, we both know you're on your last legs! There's nothing in your deck that can save you now! And I'll prove it! Soulless Jester, end this now by taking out his Decoy Dragon!" Soulless Jester rushed forward, swinging down its blade to destroy the miniature Dragon.

"I meant what I said before and I'll prove it!" Shirou declared, flipping his face-down face-up. "I activate the trap card, Power Frame!"

"And what does _that_ do?"

"Let me tell ya!" Shirou shouted. "When my monster is attacked by a monster with higher ATK points, the attack is negated-" Shirou continued when Xander opened to argue. "-AND, not only that, but my monster also gains the ATK point difference between Soulless Jester' ATK points and Decoy Dragon's ATK points! All I had to do was trick you into attacking!"

A cube surrounded Decoy Dragon, shocking it with immense power that caused its blinding aura to skyrocket (ATK: 5200).

Xander raised his hand. "But couldn't you have used Power Frame and THEN activated your United We Stand next turn?" He asked. "Then you would have been able to increase your monster's power to surpass mine."

Shirou paused, mouth half-open. "Shut up!" The thought hadn't really crossed his mind...Just another screw-up... "Anyway, are you done?"

"It appears I am..." Xander sighed out. "In the end, you were nothing special at all..."

Shirou grit his teeth in anger. "I'll show you!" He drew a card. "I summon Marauding Captain to the field!" A knight in armor appeared (3/ATK: 1200/DEF: 400). "And I switch Alexandrite Dragon to ATK mode!" The gem-coated Dragon stood on its hind legs, letting out a roar. "Now! Decoy Dragon! Put an end to his Soulless Jester once and for all!"

Decoy Dragon gave a nod of confirmation before erupting from its cube, shooting towards Xander's fusion monster at break-neck speeds.

Soulless Jester tried to counter the Dragon's charge with its blade, but that only stalled Decoy Dragon for a mere second before its headbutt shattered the Fiend's blade, hitting it square in the chest.

Soulless Jester loud out a screech of agony before exploding into pieces along with Decoy Dragon.

"And with your defenses open, I can attack you directly! Go! Marauding Captain!" The knight lunged forward, bringing his blades in an "X" across Xander's chest, causing him to let out a scream of pain as blood seeped from his wounds.

 **Shirou: 700 LP**

 **Xander: 1400 LP**

"And now! Alexandrite Dragon! Put an end to this with Gem-Flash Cannon!" Alexandrite Dragon took to the skies, building up a beam in its mouth before unleashing it in one powerful burst.

Xander frowned, before sighing. "It was well-fought battle, I suppose..." However, before the light consumed him, he flashed Shirou yet another smile that would haunt his nightmares. "I'll be seeing you real soon, Shiroooooouuuu~"

Followed by a maniacal laughter before Xander was no more.

 **Shirou: 700 LP**

 **Xander: 0 LP**

The monsters began to fade as did Xander's field spell, leaving Shirou right back in the woods where he had last been.

A tired breath escaped him as he clutched his side in pain. "I did it...I won..." However, the adrenaline wore off quickly. Shirou fell to his knees, his body unable to sustain his own weight any longer. "Now I just...I just need to find Chelia...I have to...have to find...Uggghhhh..."

Exhaustion claimed him.

Then darkness.

'Chelia...'

* * *

How long had it been?

An hour?

Three hours?

A day?

A week?

Shirou wasn't sure.

All he knew was that, when he woke up, he was almost blinded by the fluorescent lights hanging over head.

He wasn't even quite sure where he was at first.

He took note of his form of dress. His chest was bare except for the countless bandages that covered it. His hands were also wrapped up with the middle finger and ring finger of his right hand together in some sort of metal set to keep them straight. He almost looked like a mummy.

Shirou made several attempts to sit up, but they were in vain. The pain was too great.

"You shouldn't try to move just yet," A concerned voice advised him.

Shirou's vision was still going in and out, but he recognized the sexy school nurse sitting beside him. "Ms...Fontaine...?" He groaned. "Ugh...What happened...?"

"I was hoping you could tell _me_ that," The school nurse said, the worries of a caring teacher showing in her eyes. "Some students found you laying on the ground in the middle of the forest this morning and you were in pretty bad shape. You were brought here and I patched you up to the best of my abilities. However, it's only a temporary fix. You should go to a real hospital when you return to the mainland."

Shirou groaned again. "...but...what happened...? I was dueling Xander and-" His eyes shot open and he sat upright in such a hurry that every bruise and wound in his body ached in unified protest. "Augh!" Shirou winced before falling back against the best. "What happened...What happened to Chelia? Chelia West! She was supposed to be-Ow!" As Shirou learned first-hand, Shadow Games were no joke.

Ms. Fontaine avoided his eyes, leaving Shirou with a sinking feeling in his gut. "..."

"What happened...?" It was then that he processed something Ms. Fontaine had said a moment ago. "Wait...What did you mean when you said "return to the mainland"...? What's going on?"

Ms. Fontaine bit her lower lip, as if scolding herself for letting something slip. "...I really wish I had waited for Chancellor Shepard and Professor Crowler to arrive, but you have the right to know."

"Know? Know WHAT?!"

"Shirou Fujimura, effective immediately..."

Then the feeling of a bomb feeling dropped hit Shirou.

" _...you've been expelled from Duel Academy._ "

* * *

 **Aaaand Part 2 is done! I hope you all enjoyed! Thanks again to Demons Anarchy of Pride for letting me use Xander!**

 **Please read and review!**


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